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Margaret Weston

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Dame Margaret Kate Weston, DBE, FMA (7 March 1926 – January 2021) was the Director of the Science Museum, London. She began her career as an electrical engineer before joining the Science Museum in 1955. Weston helped oversee the expansion of the museum into the Science Museum Group, including the foundation of the National Railway Museum in York and the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford. She also played a key role in acquiring Concorde 002, which is now housed at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton.

Life

Margaret Weston was born in Oakridge, Gloucestershire, the daughter of a headmaster, and educated at Stroud High School. In 1955, at the age of 28, she achieved the status of Chartered Electrical Engineer, specialising in high voltage. She was appointed to the senior technical staff of the General Electric Company Limited before joining the Science Museum in London, starting in 1955. In 1967, she was appointed Keeper of the Department of Museum Services at the Science Museum (the first time a woman was appointed as a Keeper there), having previously worked as Deputy Keeper of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Communications. In 1973 she was appointed Director of the Science Museum, succeeding Sir David Follett, and becoming the first woman to serve as director of a National Museum. She held the position until 1986, during which time she oversaw a significant expansion of what is now known as the Science Museum Group.

On her first day as Director, Weston visited York and announced the city as the home of the National Railway Museum; the museum was opened in 1975. She also oversaw the acquisition of Concorde 002, the second prototype of the aircraft, for the Science Museum. She described how the Museum acquired Concorde, saying, "I had a telephone call – it was all telephone calls in those earlier days, not e-mails – and the man didn’t give his name or his department. But he just said, do you want Concorde 002? It's coming to the end of its test service. And I said, well I want to preserve it but I have no place to put it. But yes I'll take it." The aircraft made its last flight to the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton in July 1976, where it is housed.

In 1976, she oversaw the display of an extensive collection of biomedical objects from Sir Henry Wellcome's Museum Collection, which were loaned to the Science Museum, broadening the museum's scope considerably.

In 1980, Weston acquired a former Royal Air Force airfield at Wroughton, Wiltshire. The field was used to house large objects such as aircraft, trams and an inert nuclear missile, and was opened as the National Collections Centre.

Weston was instrumental in establishing the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television (now the National Media Museum) in Bradford, which opened on 16 June 1983 and featured the UK's largest cinema screen and the country’s first IMAX cinema.

In 1984 she was invited to deliver the MacMillan Memorial Lecture to the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland. She chose the subject "The Science Museum and Change – Over the last Thirty Years". She was also the patron of the Heritage Railway Association and the Stroudwater Textile Trust.

Following her retirement Weston continued to work in the museum sector as a volunteer. In Stroud, she was chair of the Cowle Trust, which opened a Museum in the Park and a walled garden.

Weston died in January 2021 at the age of 94.

Honours

Margaret Weston was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 1979 Birthday Honours. She was also a Fellow of the Museums Association (FMA). In 1984 she was made an Honorary Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge. The same year, she received an honorary degree from the University of Salford, Manchester.

In 2018, she was made a Fellow of the Science Museum. The fellowship was presented by Dame Mary Archer at Dame Margaret's home.

Bibliography

References

  1. Dame Margaret Weston (Director of Science Museum) and Mrs Gandhi at the opening of Science in India. Science Museum, 1982, Science and Society Picture Library, UK.
  2. ^ "Happy 90th Birthday to Dame Margaret Weston!". stroudhigh.gloucs.sch.uk. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  3. Pat Carrick, Catalogue of Research Material on Oakridge, Far Oakridge, Waterlane, Bournes Green, Tunley and Daneway, Part II Archived 13 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Stroud Textile Trust". stroud-textile.org.uk. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  5. ^ "Stroud woman, 92, receives prestigious science award". Stroud News and Journal. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  6. ^ I. R. (1967). "Appointment of a new keeper in the Science Museum". The Woman Engineer. 10 (5): 9.
  7. "Dame, who was instrumental in forming Bradford Media Museum, dies at 94". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  8. ^ "Happy Birthday to Dame Margaret Weston". blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  9. "Concorde Fleet Air Air Museum Yeovilton Somerset". fleetairarm.com. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  10. ^ Ian Blatchford (13 January 2021). "Remembering Dame Margaret Weston". Science Museum Group. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  11. "Hugh Miller Macmillan". Macmillan Memorial Lectures. Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  12. "The Walled Garden". Museum in the Park. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  13. ^ Newman, Rowan (14 January 2021). "Dame, who was instrumental in forming Bradford Media Museum, dies at 93". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  14. "Honorary Fellows". Newnham College. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  15. Manchester, University of Salford (9 April 2015). "Dame Margaret Kate Weston, recipient of honorary degree". www.salford.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  16. "Science Museum Director's Dinner". 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  17. David Follett, The Rise of the Science Museum under Henry Lyons. London: Science Museum, 1978. ISBN 0-901805-19-X.
  18. David Weston, Beware of Trains. London: Ian Allan, 1981.
Cultural offices
Preceded bySir David Follett Director of the Science Museum
1973–1986 		Succeeded bySir Neil Cossons
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