Sir John Traill Cargill, 1st Baronet, DL, JP (10 January 1867 – 24 January 1954) was a Scottish oil magnate.

Early life and career

Cargill was born in Glasgow, the second son of

David Sime Cargill David Sime Cargill (9 April 1826 – 25 May 1904) was a Scottish businessman. He was the founder of Burmah Oil which expanded to become one of the United Kingdom's largest oil companies. Life He was born at Maryton, by Montrose, in Angus, Scotl ...

, founder of the

Burmah Oil Company The Burmah Oil Company was a leading British oil company which was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In 1966, Castrol was acquired by Burmah, which was renamed "Burmah-Castrol". BP Amoco (now BP) purchased the company in 2000. History ...

, and his first wife Margaret (née Traill), who died when he was five. He was educated at Glasgow Academy from 1878 to 1883, and in 1890 went to Burma to work in the

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

office of his father's company, returning to Glasgow three years later.

Later career

In 1904, he succeeded his father as chairman of the Burmah Oil Company and its associates, remaining in the post until 1943. Cargill (through his subsidiary Concessions Syndicate Ltd) provided from Glasgow the necessary finance, plant and equipment, and skilled manpower for the long drawn-out task of wresting oil from the inhospitable land of Persia. Not until 1908 were oil deposits found there, and a new subsidiary company, Anglo-Persian Oil Co Ltd (now British Petroleum) was set up the following year.''Dictionary of Scottish Business Biography'', 1986''A History of the Burmah Oil Company, 1886–1924'', by T. A. B Copley, 1983 He was also chairman of

Scottish Oils Ltd The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) was a British company founded in 1909 following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Persia (Iran). The British government purchased 51% of the company in 1914, gaining a controlling number o ...

, consolidating the main shale oil companies, from 1922 to 1943. He later served as figurehead of these companies, leaving the active running of them to their managing directors. He was also a director of the

Anglo-Persian Oil Company The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) was a British company founded in 1909 following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Persia (Iran). The British government purchased 51% of the company in 1914, gaining a controlling number ...

and the Assam Oil Company.Biography, '' Who Was Who'' He was a director of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, a governor of the Royal Technical College, and a member of the Court of Glasgow University. Cargill was created a baronet, of Glasgow, in the

1920 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1920 were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by members of the British Empire. They were published on 1 January 1920 and 30 March 1920 (referred to as the 1920 civil ...

. He was a Deputy Lieutenant of Glasgow and a member of the court of the University of Glasgow, which awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Laws (LLD) in 1929.

Personal life

In 1895, Cargill married Mary Hope Walker Grierson, sister of Lieutenant-General Sir James Moncrieff Grierson. They had a daughter, Allison Hope Cargill (born 13 August 1896), but no sons, and the baronetcy became extinct upon Cargill's death. His wife died in 1929 and in 1943 he retired to a nursing home in Edinburgh, where he died. He was buried in Hillfoot Cemetery in Glasgow. He left large bequests to the University of Glasgow and the

University of Rangoon '') , mottoeng = There's no friend like wisdom. , established = , type = Public , rector = Dr. Tin Mg Tun , undergrad = 4194 , postgrad = 5748 , city = Kamayut 11041, Yangon , state = Yangon Regio ...

Footnotes

References

* Obituary, '' The Times'', 25 January 1954 {{DEFAULTSORT:Cargill, John 1867 births 1954 deaths Businesspeople from Glasgow Scottish businesspeople British businesspeople in the oil industry Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Burmah-Castrol BP people People educated at the Glasgow Academy Deputy Lieutenants of Glasgow