Sir William Barr McKinnon Duncan (16 December 1922 – 5 November 1984) was a Scottish businessman who served as a director of ICI in both the UK and USA and as chairman and chief executive of the Rolls-Royce Corporation.

Life

He was born on 16 December 1922 and attended

Ardrossan Academy Ardrossan Academy is a Scottish secondary school, opened in October 1882, serving Ardrossan, with pupils also coming from nearby Saltcoats, West Kilbride, Seamill, Fairlie, Largs and other areas. Notable alumni * June Andrews, nursing ex ...

. He then studied Mechanical Engineering at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, graduating BSc. He was then apprenticed to the Nobel Division of ICI at

Ardeer, North Ayrshire Ardeer was a small town now officially incorporated into Stevenston on the Ardeer peninsula, in the parish of Stevenston, North Ayrshire, originally an island and later its extensive sand dune system became the site of Nobel Explosives, a do ...

. From 1966 to 1973 he was President of the ICI (America) and then in 1977 became Departmental Chairman of the entire ICI corporation. In 1983 he became Chief Executive of the Rolls-Royce Corporation. He was created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1973 New Years Honours List. In 1975 he is listed as a Member of the

National Enterprise Board The National Enterprise Board (NEB) was a United Kingdom government body. It was set up in 1975 by the Labour government of Harold Wilson, to support the government's interventionist approach to industry. In 1981 the Conservative government of Mar ...

. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

in 1980. His proposers form one of the longest and most impressive lists within the Society:

Lord Polwarth Lord Polwarth, of Polwarth in the County of Berwick, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1690 for Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth, 2nd Baronet, Lord Chancellor of Scotland from 1696 to 1702 (the baronetcy had been created in t ...

, Sir

Samuel Curran Sir Samuel Crowe Curran (23 May 1912 – 15 February 1998), Royal Society, FRS, FRSE, was a physicist and the first Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde – the first of the new technical universities in Britain. He ...

, Sir Edward M Wright, Sir John Atwell,

William Whigham Fletcher William Whigham Fletcher (11 August 1918 – 4 April 2001) was a Scottish biologist and academic author. He was Professor of Botany at Strathclyde University. He specialised in crop protection and was one of the first to study the environmental ...

, William McPhee Hutchison, Alistair North,

George Murray Burnett Prof George Murray Burnett FRSE FRSA FRIC LLD (1921–1980) was a Scottish mathematician and chemist. He served as both Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University from 1974 until 1980. He is largely remembered for his work o ...

Alick Buchanan-Smith, Baron Balerno Brigadier Alick Drummond Buchanan-Smith, Baron Balerno, (9 October 1898 – 28 July 1984) was a British soldier and prominent geneticist. Life He was born in Glasgow, the son of Alice Lillian (née Buchanan), daughter of Sir George Buchanan, a ...

and

Robert Allan Smith Dr Robert Allan Smith CBE FRS PRSE (14 May 1909 – 16 May 1980) was a British mathematician and physicist.S.D. Smith, Robert Allan Smith, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, vol.28, 479-504, 1982. Biography Smith (known to h ...

. On 17 March 1983 he was knighted by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

.The London Gazette: 22 April 1983 He died on 5 November 1984.

Family

In 1951 he married Christina Boyd Worth.

References

1922 births 1984 deaths 20th-century Scottish businesspeople Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Glasgow Rolls-Royce British expatriates in the United States People educated at Ardrossan Academy {{business-bio-stub