LITHGOW, Sir William James 2nd Bt 1934-2022
Richard R
He was s of Lt-Col Sir James LITHGOW 1st Bt GBE CB MC TD 1883-1952 and Gwendolyn Amy 1896-1975 d of John Robinson HARRISON 1856-1923 of Scalesceugh, Cumberland by his 1888 m reg Q4 Herefs to Margaret Harriett Ann KEAY c1866-1939. He m 1st 1964 Valerie Helen 1936-64 d of Denis Herbert SCOTT CBE 1899-1958 of Aberdeen House, Uppingham, Rutland, and Laura Innes 1907-82 d of Henry Cotes FOSTER 1871-1953 and Helen _ 1876-.. He m 2nd 1967 Mary Claire b c1941 d of Col Frank Moutray HILL 1907-96 by his 1937 m reg Q4 Yorks to Marjorie Frances RUSHWORTH 1907-2006, and had two sons and a dau by 2nd m. His elder son succeeds him:
[Sir] James Frank LITHGOW [3rd Bt] b 13 June 1970, has yet to establish his claim and appear on The Roll of the Baronetage. He m 1997 Claire Felicity b 1968 d of Lt-Cmdr Nicholas John DU CANE WILKINSON RN and Elizabeth Amoret b 1942 d of John Amory Forrest GETHIN 1916-65 (gs of Sir Richard Charles Percy GETHIN 7th Bt 1847-1921) and Barbara Damarel Cicely 1916-2019 d of Alan Robert Cecil WESTLAKE ICS 1894-1978 of Farnham, Surrey by his 1916 m (24 Jan, Bengal, India) to Dorothy Louise TURNER 1889-1966, and had issue.
SONS LIVING
HENRY JAMES b 23 Oct 1998
William Douglas b 18 April 2002
DAUGHTER LIVING
Anna Cecily b 2000
Henry W
colinp
He was still at school when he inherited the family shipyard, and went on to diversify the business into salmon farming and agriculture
Sir William Lithgow, 2nd Bt, who has died aged 87, inherited the world’s largest privately owned shipbuilding enterprise while still a schoolboy. Though the Clyde yards founded by his grandfather were eventually nationalised, he continued to lead a family business with diverse marine and agricultural interests.
He was the only grandson of William Todd Lithgow (1854-1908), a ship’s draughtsman who became a partner and chief designer in the Port Glasgow shipyard of Russell & Co, which began building iron-hulled sailing ships in the 1870s. Using standardised designs and components, the business expanded and prospered in the era of steam under the first William’s sons, James and Henry....
William James Lithgow was born on May 10 1934, the only son of Colonel Sir James Lithgow, who was created a baronet in 1925 and was sometimes referred to as Scotland’s “industrial king”, and Gwendolyn, née Harrison, daughter of a Clyde shipowner.
William was educated at Winchester where he was a sixth-former at the time of his father’s death in 1952, prompting a Scottish Sunday Post headline: “Schoolboy inherits industrial empire”. Gwendolyn held the reins of Lithgows while William qualified as an engineer, joining the board in 1956 and succeeding his mother as chairman in 1959....
[H]e expanded the residual family business with interests in salmon farming, fishing-boat building and agriculture, the latter focused on his estate at Ormsary, near Lochgilphead. He occasionally sounded off in the Scottish press on issues such as the inadequacy of ferry services to the Western Isles and the poor state of repair of the “Rest and Be Thankful” route to Argyll.
His portfolio of appointments included long service on the board of the Bank of Scotland and membership of the Clyde Port Authority and National Ports Council. He joined the Queen’s Body Guard for Scotland (Royal Company of Archers) in 1964 and was a deputy lieutenant of Renfrewshire, where he inherited his parents’ mansion at Langbank, close to the shipyards.
William Lithgow married first, in 1964, Valerie Scott, who died of a viral infection later that year. He married secondly, in 1967, Mary Claire Hill, who survives him with their two sons and a daughter. The elder son James, now chairman of Lithgows, succeeds in the baronetcy.
Sir William Lithgow Bt, born May 10 1934, died February 28 2022
