Neil Weir
Neil Archibald Campbell Weir CMG, OBE, ED, FCIS | |
|---|---|
| File:Neilweir4.jpg | |
| Born | 25 April 1895 Paddington, London |
| Died | 10 January 1967 (aged 71) |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service/ |  British Army |
| Years of service | 1914 - 1920 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Battles/wars | First World War |
| Awards | OBE, CMG, |
| Other work | Senior Commissioner and Member of the Executive and Legislative Councils of The Gambia |
Neil Archibald Campbell Weir CMG OBE ED FCIS (25 April 1895 – 10 January 1967) was a British Army officer who served in the First World War. After the War he had a career in the Colonial Administrative Service, serving in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Mauritius. His War diaries and letters were published after his death as Mud and Bodies, The War Diaries and Letters of Captain N A C Weir, 1914-20.[1]
Early life
Neil Weir was born at 52 Oxford Terrace, Paddington, London on 25 April 1895 to Dr Archibald Munday Weir L.R.C.P. & S, Edin, L.F.P. & S., Glas. Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Edinburgh, Edith Rosa Weir (née Hill). He was educated at The School, Malvern Link, Wellington College, Berks, and Keble College, Oxford.
Military Career
During the First World War Weir served in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (1914-20). He was Captain and Company Commander at the age of 19 and fought at Ploegsteert Wood, Loos, Ypres, Vimy Ridge, and the Somme. On the Somme, Weir was recommended for a DSO and Mentioned in dispatches for his role in the attack on Longueval in July 1916. Weir was injured in the trenches later in 1916 and was subsequently concerned with the training of other young officers. Later he worked at the War Office in the section concerned with British intervention in the Russian Civil War. Between 1920 and 1922 Weir served with the Military Operations Department, War Office and the 5th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment. Later (1930-43) he was attached to the Reserves of Nigeria and Sierra Leone Regiment, Royal West African Frontier Force.[2]
Colonial Administrative Service
1925-36: Nigeria,
1936-43: Sierra Leone,
1943-50: Senior Commissioner and Member of the Executive and Legislative Council of The Gambia
1953-54: Sierra Leone Development Co. Ltd.,
1955-60: Chairman: Public Service Commission, Mauritius,
1959-60: Police Service Commission, Mauritius.
Medals and other Awards
6 other Medals
1935: Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (F.C.I.S.)
1938: Efficiency Decoration (E.D.)
1950: Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (C.M.G.)
1947: Order of the British Empire. (O.B.E.)
Personal Life
In 1930, Weir married Hermine Anna Fyffe, daughter of Rev C. F. Fyffe of St Helen's College, Southsea and Fiddington Rectory, Somerset; the couple had two sons and two daughters.
Retirement
Weir retired in 1960 and lived in Holford, Somerset. He died on 10 January 1967 at the age of 71.
War Diaries and Correspondence
In 2009, several years after Weir's death, his war diaries and correspondence were found among his effects by Michael Weir Burns, Neil Weir's grandson. The importance of these documents was immediately apparent to Burns, and he subsequently collaborated with the military historian Saul David in the publication of these papers as Mud and Bodies, The War Diaries and Letters of Captain N A C Weir, 1914-20. The work has received favourable reviews, while the original papers are now held by the Bodleian Library[3][4][5]. The work has been referenced as a source of historical material by author Michael Lewis in corrigenda relating to his book[6] The Journey's End Battalion - 9th East Surrey in the Great War.[7]
References
- ↑ David, Saul (2013). Mud and Bodies, The War Diaries and Letters of Captain N A C Weir, 1914-20. London: Frontline Books. ISBN 978-1-84832-688-0. Search this book on
- ↑ Who was Who 1961-1970. A. & C. Black Ltd. 1972. ISBN 0-7136-1202-9. Search this book on
- ↑ Gardner, Rachel (4 January 2014). "Pampered Public Schoolboy became a Hardened Veteran of the Trenches". Western Daily Press. pp. 10–11.
- ↑ "Mud and Bodies: The War Diaries and Letters of Captain N.A.C. Weir, 1914-1920".
- ↑ diaries and papers. 1925–50. Search this book on
- ↑ Lewis, Michael. "The Journey's End Battalion - 9th East Surrey in the Great War by Michael Lucas - author's Addenda and Corrigenda". Royal Saxon Army.co.uk.
- ↑ Lewis, Michael (2012). The Journey's End Battalion - 9th East Surrey in the Great War (2nd ed.). Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military. p. 169. ISBN 978-1848845039. Search this book on
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