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William Johnston Thomson
Sir William Johnston Thomson MIME (1881 – 18 September 1949) was a 20th century Scottish engineer and businessman, highly involved in the early automobile industry, who served two consecutive terms as Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1932 to 1935. He created the first city to city bus services in Scotland. Life He was born in 1881 to a Caithness family. He served his apprenticeship as an engineer at J & T Boyd, manufacturers of textile making machines at Shettleston Ironworks in Glasgow. Around 1899 he moved to Pollock, Mcnab and Highgate based at Carntyne Station in Shettleston. Around 1900 he joined the newly created automobile manufacturer Arrol-Johnston. In 1905 he founded the Scottish Motor Traction Company (generally known as the SMT) which became operational at 9 Lauriston Street in south-west Edinburgh in 1906. In 1929 the company took over W. Alexander & Sons, their main rival, together with multiple smaller Scottish bus companies, and thereafter had a virtuall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scottish Motor Traction
Scottish Motor Traction (SMT) was founded in Edinburgh in 1905 by William Johnston Thomson. It operated buses in much of central Scotland. Aside from its traditional bus operations, it operated an air taxi service with a De Havilland Fox Moth between 18 July and 31 October 1932 and for many years owned Dryburgh Abbey Hotel. Following legislation, which allowed railway companies to invest in bus operators, the London & North Eastern Railway and London, Midland & Scottish Railway took a major stake in SMT in 1929. In 1930, following the takeover of another operator, SMT started its Edinburgh to London express coach service. SMT also acquired control of Walter Alexander & Sons bus services and coachbuilding operations, the Alexander family joining the SMT board. SMT grew partly through the acquisition of smaller companies. Operations were decentralised to local areas, such as Central SMT in Lanarkshire, and Western SMT in south-west Scotland (both with red buses), whilst the east of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London And North Eastern Railway
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At that time, it was divided into the new British Railways' Eastern Region, North Eastern Region, and partially the Scottish Region. History The company was the second largest created by the Railways Act 1921. The principal constituents of the LNER were: * Great Eastern Railway * Great Central Railway * Great Northern Railway * Great North of Scotland Railway * Hull and Barnsley Railway * North British Railway * North Eastern Railway The total route mileage was . The North Eastern Railway had the largest route mileage of , whilst the Hull and Barnsley Railway was . It covered the area north and east of London. It included the East Coast Main Line from London to Edinburgh via York and Newcastle upon Tyne and the routes from Edinburgh to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1949 Deaths
Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis Muñoz Marín becomes the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico. * January 11 – The first "networked" television broadcasts take place, as KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania goes on the air, connecting east coast and mid-west programming in the United States. * January 16 – Şemsettin Günaltay forms the new government of Turkey. It is the 18th government, last single party government of the Republican People's Party. * January 17 – The first VW Type 1 to arrive in the United States, a 1948 model, is brought to New York by Dutch businessman Ben Pon. Unable to interest dealers or importers in the Volkswagen, Pon sells the sample car to pay his travel expenses. Only two 1949 models are sold in America tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1881 Births
Events January–March * January 1– 24 – Siege of Geok Tepe: Russian troops under General Mikhail Skobelev defeat the Turkomans. * January 13 – War of the Pacific – Battle of San Juan and Chorrillos: The Chilean army defeats Peruvian forces. * January 15 – War of the Pacific – Battle of Miraflores: The Chileans take Lima, capital of Peru, after defeating its second line of defense in Miraflores. * January 24 – William Edward Forster, chief secretary for Ireland, introduces his Coercion Bill, which temporarily suspends habeas corpus so that those people suspected of committing an offence can be detained without trial; it goes through a long debate before it is accepted February 2. * January 25 – Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company. * February 13 – The first issue of the feminist newspaper ''La Citoyenne'' is published by Hubertine Auclert. * February 16 – The Canad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Stewart Gumley
Sir Louis Stewart Gumley LLD (7 May 1870 – 30 September 1941) was a Scottish property agent who founded the firm Gumleys and who served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1935 to 1938. Gumleys merged in 1989 to become Speirs Gumley. Life He was born in Dublin in Ireland on 7 May 1870 the son of Thomas Franc Sadler Gumley and his wife Wilhelmina Moffat. He moved to Edinburgh around 1890 with his mother, following the death of his father, and they lived in a flat at 11 Howe Street. He founded Gumleys in 1898 at 84 Leith Walk. In 1910 he was running a property business at 89 Leith Walk and living at 3 Dundas Street in New Town, Edinburgh, Edinburgh's Second New Town.Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1910-11 In 1935 he succeeded Sir William Johnston Thomson as Lord Provost of Edinburgh. He died on 30 September 1941 at Bowness-on-Windermere in the Lake District but was returned to Edinburgh for burial in Warriston Cemetery in the north of the city. The grave lies at the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Queen Victoria, George was the second son of Edward VII, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, and was third in the line of succession to the British throne behind his father and his elder brother, Prince Albert Victor. From 1877 to 1892, George served in the Royal Navy, until the unexpected death of his elder brother in early 1892 put him directly in line for the throne. On Victoria's death in 1901, George's father ascended the throne as Edward VII, and George was created Prince of Wales. He became King-Emperor, king-emperor on his father's death in 1910. George's reign saw the rise of socialism, communism, fascism, Irish republicanism, and the Indian independence movement, all of which radically changed the poli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Barnby Whitson
Sir Thomas Barnby Whitson FRSE DL EZS LLD (10 March 1869 – 1 October 1948) was a Scottish chartered accountant who served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh 1929 to 1932. Life He was born on 10 March 1869 to Isobel Lowe and Thomas Whitson (b. 1834) in Blairgowrie), an Edinburgh chartered accountant. The family lived at 30a Minto Street in the Newington area of Edinburgh. He was educated at George Watsons College and Loretto College and then studied accountancy at the University of Edinburgh. He practiced as a chartered accountant continually from 1893. He was interested in Antarctic exploration, and although not undertaking the journey himself he underwrote part of the costs of William Spiers Bruce's explorations in the early 20th century. He also co-founded the Scottish Spitsbergen Syndicate. He was knighted by King George V in 1931 during his period as Lord Provost. He received an honorary doctorate (LLD) from the University of Edinburgh in the same year. He was also in that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Midland And Scottish Railway
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally used in historical circles. The LMS occasionally also used the initials LM&SR. For consistency, this article uses the initials LMS.) was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railways into four. The companies merged into the LMS included the London and North Western Railway, Midland Railway, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (which had previously merged with the London and North Western Railway on 1 January 1922), several Scottish railway companies (including the Caledonian Railway), and numerous other, smaller ventures. Besides being the world's largest transport organisation, the company was also the largest commercial enterpri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lord Provost Of Edinburgh
The Right Honourable Lord Provost of Edinburgh is the convener of the City of Edinburgh local authority, who is elected by City_of_Edinburgh_Council, the city council and serves not only as the chair of that body, but as a figurehead for the entire city, ex officio the Lord-Lieutenant of Edinburgh. It is the equivalent in many ways to the institution of Mayor that exists in many other countries. While some of Scotland's subdivisions of Scotland, local authorities elect a Provost (civil), Provost, only the four main cities (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Scotland, Aberdeen and Dundee, Scotland, Dundee) have a Lord Provost. In Edinburgh this position dates from 1667, when Charles II of England, Charles II elevated the Provost to the status of Lord Provost, with the same rank and precedence as the Lord Mayor of London. The title of Lord Provost is enshrined in the ''Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994''. Roles and Traditions Prior to the Local Government (Scotland) Act 197 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth. Edinburgh is Scotland's List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, second-most populous city, after Glasgow, and the List of cities in the United Kingdom, seventh-most populous city in the United Kingdom. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is the seat of the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament and the Courts of Scotland, highest courts in Scotland. The city's Holyrood Palace, Palace of Holyroodhouse is the official residence of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarchy in Scotland. The city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scots law, Scottish law, literature, philosophy, the sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arrol-Johnston
Arrol-Johnston (later known as Arrol-Aster) was an early Scottish manufacturer of automobiles, which operated from 1895 to 1931 and produced the first automobile manufactured in Britain. The company also developed the world's first "off-road" vehicle for the Egyptian government, and another designed to travel on ice and snow for Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole. History George Johnston was by training a locomotive engineer from Neilson, Reid and Company Limited of Springburn, Glasgow. Johnston was commissioned by Glasgow Corporation Tramways in 1894 to build an experimental steam-powered tramcar to replace their fleet of horse-drawn trams. During a final test before a Corporation committee, it caught fire and work was abandoned. Johnston's attention was then turned to a detailed examination of continental makes of motor cars and he came to the conclusion that he could design and make a better vehicle than any of them and, in particular, a better engine. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
