John Alexander Dewar, 1st Baron Forteviot (6 June 1856 – 23 November 1929) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

businessman, elder son of the founder of

John Dewar & Sons John Dewar & Sons, Ltd. is a Scottish company that distills Scotch whisky. It is a subsidiary of Bacardi. History John Dewar was born in 1825 in the town of Ochterarder, Scotland. He began his career in the whisky trade in the early 1840s. ...

company and a Liberal Member of Parliament.

Career

Lord Forteviot was chairman of the distilling firm John Dewar and Sons and a director of Buchanan-Dewar Ltd and of Distillers Company Ltd. He also represented

Inverness-shire Inverness-shire () or the County of Inverness, is a Counties of Scotland, historic county in Scotland. It is named after Inverness, its largest settlement, which was also the county town. Covering much of the Scottish Highlands, Highlands and s ...

in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 1900 to 1917 and was twice

Lord Provost A lord provost () is the convenor of the local authority, the civic head and the lord-lieutenant of one of the principal cities of Scotland. The office is similar to that of a lord mayor. Only the cities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Stirlin ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. He was created a Baronet in 1907 and in 1917 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Forteviot, of Dupplin in the County of Perth. In 1912 he chaired the Dewar Commission, an examination of the state of healthcare provision in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The Commission took evidence in the form of written submissions and personal interviews throughout the North, beginning on 15 August 1912 at the Local Government Board Offices in Edinburgh, but moving on by the third day to Inverness and other parts of the north. The " Dewar Report" or Highlands and Islands Medical Service Committee (1912) Report to the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury was presented to Parliament in 1913, resulting in the establishment of the

Highlands and Islands Medical Service The Highlands and Islands Medical Service (HIMS) provided state funded healthcare to a population covering half of Scotland's landmass from its launch in 1913 until the creation of Scotland's National Health Service (NHS) in 1948. Though treatment ...

Family

John Dewar Jr. was the son of

John Dewar, Sr. John Dewar (6 January 1805 – 22 January 1880) was a Scottish businessman from Perth, Scotland, Perth who founded the John Dewar & Sons Scotch whisky distillery in 1846. Personal life In 1845, Dewar married Jane Gow, with whom he had the foll ...

and Jane Gow, and older brother of

Thomas Dewar, 1st Baron Dewar Thomas Robert Dewar, 1st Baron Dewar (6 January 1864 – 11 April 1930) was a Scottish whisky distiller who, along with his brother John Dewar, built their family company John Dewar & Sons into an international success. They blended their whi ...

, and Arthur Dewar. He married Elsie Johann (Joan) Tod (fourth daughter of Lord Forteviot of Dupplin) in 1884, however, she died in 1899. In 1905, he married Margaret Elizabeth Holland, daughter of Henry Holland. Children with Johann Todd: *

John Dewar, 2nd Baron Forteviot John Dewar, 2nd Baron Forteviot (17 March 1885 – 24 October 1947) was a Scottish businessman and soldier, notable as being head of the whisky giant John Dewar & Sons and of the Distillers Company and a director of the Bank of Scotland. Lif ...

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

MC (17 March 1885 – 24 October 1947) *Hon. Agnes Roger Dewar (6 June 1888 – 30 March 1919); married John James Strutt, son of Hon. Edward Gerald Strutt, and has issue *Hon. Jane Gow Dewar (12 May 1890 – 6 June 1969); married with issue *Hon. Margaret Dorothy Dewar (7 July 1891 – 11 October 1967); married Arthur Lawrence Cecil Neame, had issue *Hon. Elsie Joan Tod Dewar (24 November 1892 – 23 February 1917); unmarried *Hon. Janet Bertha Dewar (1895 – 1979); married with issue Child with Elizabeth Holland: * Henry Evelyn Alexander Dewar, 3rd Baron Forteviot (23 February 1906 – 25 March 1993); married with issue including the 4th Baron Forteviot *Hon. Irene Margaretta Dewar (21 July 1908)

Death

Lord Forteviot died in November 1929, aged 73, and was succeeded in his titles by his son from his first marriage,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

. He is buried with his family in the family plot at

Aberdalgie Aberdalgie (Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic: ''Obar Dheilgidh'', 'Confluence of the Thorn-Stream') is a small village in the Scotland, Scottish council area of Perth and Kinross. It is southwest of Perth, Scotland, Perth, and lies between the B9112 roa ...

just west of Perth, near the family seat of Dupplin.

References

Sources

*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990 *
Campaign to celebrate Scot who laid foundations of NHS 100 years ago
dailyrecord.co.uk. Accessed 7 January 2023. {{DEFAULTSORT:Forteviot, John Alexander Dewar, 1st Baron 1856 births 1929 deaths Nobility from Perth and Kinross Whisky distillers 19th-century Scottish businesspeople 20th-century Scottish businesspeople Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Deputy lieutenants of Perthshire

Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Highland constituencies Scottish Liberal Party MPs UK MPs 1906–1910 UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 UK MPs who were granted peerages Barons created by George V