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{{Infobox person
| name = Dame Margaret Weston
| birth_name = Margaret Kate Weston
| birth_date = {{birth date|1926|3|7|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Carmarthen]], Wales
| death_date = {{death date and age|2021|1|9|1926|3|7|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Leonard Stanley]], England
| alma_mater = [[University of London]]
| occupation = [[Curator]] [[electrical engineer]]
| known_for = Director of the [[Science Museum, London]]
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2015}}
'''Dame Margaret Kate Weston''', <ref name=Gazette />
[[Order of the British Empire|DBE]], [[Fellow of the Museums Association|FMA]] (7 March 1926 – 9 January 2021) was a British museum curator who was the director of the [[Science Museum, London|Science Museum]], London, between 1973 and 1986. She began her career as an electrical engineer before joining the Science Museum in 1955. Weston oversaw the expansion of the museum into the [[Science Museum Group]], including the foundation of the [[National Railway Museum]] in [[York]] and the [[National Museum of Photography, Film and Television]] in [[Bradford]]. She also played a key role in acquiring Concorde 002, which is now housed at the [[Fleet Air Arm Museum]] in [[Yeovilton]].{{cn|date=July 2022}}
==Early life and education==
[[Category:1926 births|Weston, Margaret]]▼
Margaret Weston was born in [[Carmarthen]], Wales, on 7 March 1926, and was raised in [[Oakridge, Stroud, Gloucestershire|Oakridge, Gloucestershire]], the only child of two headteachers, Margaret ({{nee}} Bright) and Charles Weston.<ref name = ODNB>{{cite ODNB|title = Weston, Dame Margaret Kate (1926–2021), engineer and museum director|last = Blatchford|first = Ian|date = 2025|doi = 10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000382830}}</ref><ref>Pat Carrick, [http://www.lhi.org.uk/docs/Catalogue_of_Research_Material_pt2.pdf "Catalogue of Research Material on Oakridge, Far Oakridge, Waterlane, Bournes Green, Tunley and Daneway, Part II"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613220647/http://www.lhi.org.uk/docs/Catalogue_of_Research_Material_pt2.pdf|date=13 June 2011|page=4}}</ref><ref name=Newnham /><ref name=":6">{{Cite web|last=Highfield|first=Roger|date=18 January 2021|title=Dame Margaret Weston obituary|url=http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/jan/18/dame-margaret-weston-obituary|access-date=20 January 2021|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref> She was educated at [[Stroud High School]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=Happy 90th Birthday to Dame Margaret Weston!|url=http://stroudhigh.gloucs.sch.uk/School-Life/News/Posts/Happy-90th-Birthday-to-Dame-Margaret-Weston|access-date=15 January 2021|publisher=[[Stroud High School]]|website=stroudhigh.gloucs.sch.uk}}</ref>
[[Category:British curators|Weston, Margaret]]▼
[[Category:Curators|Weston, Margaret]]▼
[[Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire|Weston, Margaret]]▼
During the war a German bomber crashed in the village and Margaret's father, who was also in the Home Guard, arrested the airman. Margaret's degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering were from the [[University of London]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite book|editor-last=Miles|editor-first=Alison |title=Oakridge: A History|publisher=Playne Books Ltd|year=2005|isbn=978-0954030643}}</ref> She later acknowledged the support she was given in engineering by a neighbour, Walter Gardiner, who used to let her use his workshop and lathe; they would repair bicycles together on Saturdays.<ref name=":7" />
== Career ==
After graduation, she became an electrical engineer at the [[General Electric Company]] (GEC), one of only three women amongst 300 apprentices, and specialised in high-voltage insulation, and was eventually appointed to the senior technical staff of the company.<ref name="Newnham" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web|title=Stroud woman, 92, receives prestigious science award|url=https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/16296970.stroud-woman-92-receives-prestigious-science-award/|access-date=15 January 2021|website=Stroud News and Journal|language=en}}</ref> In 1954, at the age of 28, she achieved the status of Chartered Electrical Engineer.<ref name="Newnham" /><ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite news|title=Dame Margaret Weston obituary|newspaper=[[The Times]] |language=en|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/dame-margaret-weston-obituary-0j9tbspqb|access-date=20 January 2021|issn=0140-0460}}</ref>
In 1955, she joined the Science Museum in London, as Assistant Keeper (First Class) of Electrical Engineering and Communications.<ref name=Newnham /><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |author=I. R. |title=Appointment of a new keeper in the Science Museum |journal=[[The Woman Engineer]] |volume=10 |issue=5 |year=1967 |url=http://www2.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/research/wes/WES_Vol_10.html |page=9}}</ref> She was promoted to Deputy Keeper of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Communications; in 1967, she was appointed Keeper of the Department of Museum Services at the Science Museum, the first time a woman was appointed as a Keeper there.<ref name=":2" />
In 1973 she was appointed Director of the Science Museum, succeeding Sir [[David Follett]], and becoming the first woman to serve as director of a British National Museum.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dame, who was instrumental in forming Bradford Media Museum, dies at 94|url=https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/19009065.science-museum-stalwart-dame-margaret-weston-dies-93/|access-date=15 January 2021|website=Bradford Telegraph and Argus|language=en}}</ref> She held the position until 1986, during which time she oversaw a significant expansion of what is now known as the [[Science Museum Group]].<ref name=":0" />
On her first day as Director, Weston visited York and announced the city as the home of the [[National Railway Museum]]; the museum was opened in 1975.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/happy-birthday-to-dame-margaret-weston|title=Happy Birthday to Dame Margaret Weston|website=blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk|access-date=8 March 2017}}</ref> She also oversaw the acquisition of [[Concorde]] 002, the second prototype of the aircraft, for the Science Museum. She described how the Museum acquired Concorde, saying, "I had a telephone call – it was all telephone calls in those earlier days, not e-mails – and the man didn't give his name or his department. But he just said, do you want Concorde 002? It's coming to the end of its test service. And I said, well I want to preserve it but I have no place to put it. But yes I'll take it."<ref name=":0"/> The aircraft made its last flight to the [[Fleet Air Arm Museum]] in [[Yeovilton]] in July 1976, where it is housed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fleetairarm.com/aviation-museum-concorde.aspx|title=Concorde Fleet Air Air Museum Yeovilton Somerset|website=fleetairarm.com|access-date=8 March 2017}}</ref>
In 1976, she oversaw the display of an extensive collection of biomedical objects from [[Sir Henry Wellcome]]'s Museum Collection, which were loaned to the Science Museum, broadening the museum's scope considerably. In 1980–81, two new galleries opened, "Glimpses of Medical History" and "The Science and Art of Medicine", to display the Wellcome material and other medical displays.<ref name=":5" />
In 1980, Weston acquired a former [[Royal Air Force]] airfield at [[Wroughton]], Wiltshire. The field was used to house large objects such as aircraft, trams and an inert nuclear missile, and was opened as the [[National Collections Centre]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|author=[[Ian Blatchford]]|title=Remembering Dame Margaret Weston|url=https://www.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/blog/remembering-dame-margaret-weston|date=13 January 2021|access-date=15 January 2021|publisher=[[Science Museum Group]]|language=en-GB}}</ref>
Weston was instrumental in establishing the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television (now the [[National Media Museum]]) in [[Bradford]], which opened on 16 June 1983 and featured the UK's largest cinema screen and the country's first [[IMAX|IMAX cinema]].<ref name=":5" />
In 1984 she was invited to deliver the MacMillan Memorial Lecture to the [[Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland]]. She chose the subject "The Science Museum and Change – Over the last Thirty Years".<ref name="MacmillanLecture1984">{{cite web|url=http://www.iesis.org/macmillan.html|title=Hugh Miller Macmillan|work=Macmillan Memorial Lectures|publisher=[[Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland]]|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004102303/http://www.iesis.org/macmillan.html|archivedate=4 October 2018|accessdate=17 March 2019}}</ref>
She was also president of the [[Heritage Railway Association]] until 2011<ref>{{cite web |url=http://railheritage.blogspot.com/2011/02/appointment-as-president-of-heritage.html |title=Appointment as President of Heritage Railway Association |publisher=The Railway Heritage Committee |date=February 2011 |accessdate=15 January 2021}}</ref> and the patron of the Stroudwater Textile Trust.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://stroud-textile.org.uk/about-us|title=Stroud Textile Trust|website=stroud-textile.org.uk|access-date=8 March 2017}}</ref>
On her retirement in 1986, Weston was presented with a motorbike by the museum staff.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /> In retirement, Weston continued to work in the museum sector as a volunteer. In Stroud, she was chair of the Cowle Trust, which opened a Museum in the Park and a walled garden.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Walled Garden|url=https://museuminthepark.org.uk/the-walled-garden|access-date=15 January 2021|website=Museum in the Park|language=en-US}}</ref>
Weston died from [[COVID-19]] at a care home in [[Leonard Stanley]], Gloucestershire, on 9 January 2021, at the age of 94.<ref name = ODNB/><ref name=":5" /><ref name="newman" />
==Honours==
Margaret Weston was appointed a [[Order of the British Empire|Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (DBE) in the [[1979 Birthday Honours]].<ref name=Gazette>{{cite journal |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/47888/supplement/ |title=Tuesday, 26th June 1979|journal=London Gazette |issue=47888 |date=26 June 1979 |page=B51}}</ref> She was also made a Fellow of the [[Museums Association]] (FMA) in 1984.<ref name=":5" /> In 1984 she was made an Honorary Fellow of [[Newnham College, Cambridge|Newnham College]], [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]].<ref name=Newnham>{{cite web |title=Honorary Fellows |url=https://www.newn.cam.ac.uk/about/people/honorary-fellows/ |website=Newnham College |access-date=14 January 2021}}</ref> She received honorary degrees from the Universities of [[University of Salford|Salford]], Manchester (1984), [[Aston University|Aston]], [[University of Bradford|Bradford]], [[University of Leeds|Leeds]], [[Loughborough University|Loughborough]] and the [[Open University]].<ref name=Newnham /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Manchester|first=University of Salford|date=9 April 2015|title=Dame Margaret Kate Weston, recipient of honorary degree|url=http://www.salford.ac.uk/__data/assets/xml_file/0010/530866/photographs.xml|access-date=15 January 2021|website=www.salford.ac.uk|language=en}}</ref>
In 2018, she was made a Fellow of the Science Museum.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/directors-dinner-ranges-from-nanoworlds-to-royalty/|title=Science Museum Director's Dinner|date=2018|access-date=17 March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Blatchford|first=Ian|title=Obituary {{!}} Margaret Weston, 1926-2021|url=https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/people/2021/01/obituary-margaret-weston-1926-2021/|access-date=2021-01-31|website=Museums Association|language=en-US}}</ref> The fellowship was presented by Dame [[Mary Archer]] at Dame Margaret's home.<ref name="newman">{{cite news |last1=Newman |first1=Rowan |title=Dame, who was instrumental in forming Bradford Media Museum, dies at 93 |url=https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/19009065.science-museum-stalwart-dame-margaret-weston-dies-93/ |access-date=14 January 2021 |work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus |date=14 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
==Bibliography==
* Foreword for ''The Rise of the Science Museum under [[Henry George Lyons|Henry Lyons]]'' by [[David Follett]].<ref>[[David Follett]], ''The Rise of the Science Museum Under [[Henry George Lyons|Henry Lyons]]''. London: Science Museum, 1978. {{ISBN|0-901805-19-X}}.</ref>
* Introduction for ''Beware of Trains'' by (the unrelated) [[David Weston (artist)|David Weston]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Weston|first=David|title=Beware of Trains|date=1981|publisher=Ian Allan|isbn=0-7110-1060-9|___location=London|pages=|author-link=David Weston (artist)}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-culture}}
{{succession box
|before=Sir [[David Follett]]
|title=[[Director of the Science Museum]]
|years=1973–1986
|after=Sir [[Neil Cossons]]
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:2021 deaths]]
[[Category:Directors of the Science Museum, London]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Institution of Engineering and Technology]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Museums Association]]
[[Category:Fellows of Newnham College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:People educated at Stroud High School]]
[[Category:People from Stroud District]]
[[Category:British women museum directors]]
[[Category:Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in England]]
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