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Clan Weir (Tartans, Crest) and The Story Behind

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Weir

Clan Crest: Upon a chapeau, Gules, furred Ermine a boar statant, Azure, armed, Or

Clan Motto: Vero Nihil Verius (Nothing Truer Than)

Origin of Name: Norse, ‘Vere’ for ‘Dam’

Region: Lowlands

Clan Chief: None, armigerous clan

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Weir Clan History

The name Weir is derived from the Norman 'Vere' and is now commonly used in Lanarkshire and other parts of Scotland.

Radulphus de Vere, who lived in the 12th century, is the first person with this name to be mentioned in Scottish history. He was the son of Aubrey, 1st Earl of Oxford, who supported the Flemish side in the English succession dispute. Ralph went to Scotland in 1165, swearing allegiance to William the Lion, and was captured alongside the king at the Battle of Alnwick in 1174.

His descendants lived in Lanarkshire, with his grandson, Richardus de Vere, being the proprietor of the lands and the Barony of Blackwood in 1296. In the same year, Richardus signed the Ragman Roll, pledging allegiance to Edward I. The sheriff of Edinburgh also restored forfeited land to a Thomas de Wer that year.

The estate of Blackwood was confirmed by a charter to Rothald Weir in 1400, and the Weirs held many lands at Kelso, where Radulphus had gifted land to the abbey at the end of the 12th century.

The name first appears in 1489, when George Were was involved in setting fire to the town of Dumbarton.

Alan Lockhart was sentenced to death for the murders of David and Ralph Weir in 1532, but the sentence was never carried out.

Major Thomas Weir, Captain of the Edinburgh Town Guard, was the most famous, or rather infamous, Weir. Later, he became a zealous protestant preacher with packed prayer meetings. At one of these gatherings, he abruptly confessed to witchcraft and incest. He had the dubious distinction of being the last man in Scotland to be burned for witchcraft.

Major Thomas Weir's Edinburgh home

The title of Robert Louis Stevenson's final (unfinished) book, 'Weir of Hermiston,' tells the story of Adam Weir, Lord of Hermiston, who sentences his son Archie to death.

In the nineteenth century, James Weir established the engineering firm G. & J. Weir & Co in Cathcart.

The clan of Weir is an Armigerous clan and a sept of the Buchanans, MacNaughtons, and MacFarlanes.

At Stonebyres Estate in Blackwood, a branch of the Weirs/De Veres lived from the 15th century until 1845, according to records. In 1934, the house was demolished.

Weir Places & People

Clan Weir Locations

Stonebyres House in Lanarkshire was the site of a castle and mansion owned by the Weirs from the 13th century to 1845, and was demolished in 1934.

Clan Weir Individuals

1st Viscount Weir, William Douglas (1877-1959)

Glasgow-born Scottish industrialist. During WWI, he converted his factories to make explosive shells, and in 1919, he was appointed Minister of Munitions. In 1917, he was knighted. In 1918, he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Weir and appointed President of the Air Council. In the same year, he was made a Privy Counsellor.

Weir led a government committee in 1925 to plan the rationalization of the United Kingdom's electrical power industry, and his recommendations resulted in the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926 and the establishment of the National Grid.

He was created Viscount Weir of Eastwood in 1938.

Sir John Weir (1879-1971, GCVO)

Several twentieth-century monarchs had him as their royal physician. Dr. Weir was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, and went on to become Physician Royal to King George V, King Edward VIII, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth II, and King Haakon VII of Norway, whose wife Maud was King Edward VII's youngest daughter.

Weir studied medicine at Glasgow University (MB ChB 1907) and then in Chicago.In 1910, Weir returned to the London Homeopathic Hospital as Consultant Physician, and in 1911, he was named the Compton-Burnett Professor of Materia Medica. In 1923, he was elected President of the Faculty of Homeopathy.

Weir was knighted by King George V in 1932 after speaking on homeopathy before the Royal Society of Medicine. Sir John Weir opened the renovated Manchester Homoeopathic Institute and Dispensary in Oxford Street in May 1939. Weir stated in a "address: homeopathy...is no religion, sect, fad, or humbug..."Remedies do not directly treat disease; they simply stimulate the patient's vital reactions, causing him to cure himself." After advancing through all levels of the Royal Victorian Order, he was awarded the Royal Victorian Chain in 1947, possibly as a result of the medical care he provided to the ailing King George VI.

FRSC Robert Stanley Weir (1856-1926)

Canadian judge and poet best known for writing the English lyrics to O Canada, Canada's national anthem. He was educated as a teacher and lawyer and was regarded as one of the foremost authorities on municipal civil law in Quebec at the time. He was appointed as a municipal court judge as well as an Exchequer Court of Canada judge.

Robert Stanley Weir was born in Hamilton, Canada, the son of Scottish immigrants William Park Weir and Helen Craig Smith. Weir attended McGill Normal School in Montreal and was appointed principal of Sherbrooke Street School at the age of 19. He continued his education at McGill University, where he earned a Bachelor of Civil Law in 1880 and a Doctor of Civil Law in 1897. In 1881, he was admitted to the bar.

Weir began practicing law in Montreal in 1881. In 1898, he was one of several eminent lawyers appointed to revise Montreal's charter. Many of the sections relating to expropriations and the power of the city to pass by-laws are thought to have been written by him.

He was appointed Recorder for Montreal on May 6, 1899. He taught liturgics and jurisprudence at the Congregational College of Canada, which was affiliated with McGill University, during his time as a recorder. Weir later became a municipal court judge and was regarded as an authority on the history of municipal law. Finally, he was appointed to the Canadian Exchequer Court. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1923.

Weir wrote the English lyrics for O Canada while at his summer home, Cedarhurst, in time for the 300th anniversary of Quebec City's founding.

Mary (Molly) Weir (1910-2004).

Scottish stage actress best known for her role in the BBC TV series Rentaghost as Hazel the McWitch the Scottish Ghost. She was naturalist and broadcaster Tom Weir's sister.

Weir began in amateur dramatics after being born in Glasgow and raised in the Springburn neighborhood. Weir was a well-known radio actress in her early professional career, appearing in many comedy shows such as ITMA. She made her film debut in 1949 and was a regular on the early television sitcom Life With The Lyons as the housekeeper. During the 1970s, she rose to prominence as a writer, publishing several best-selling memoirs, including Shoes Were For Sunday.

In the 1970s, she was one of the hosts of Teatime Tales, an STV television series in which she recalled her childhood. Cliff Hanley and Lavinia Derwent also appeared in the series.

MBE Thomas (Tom) Weir (1914-2006)

Climber, author, and broadcaster from Scotland. His long-running television series Weir's Way was his most well-known work.

Weir was the younger brother of actress Molly Weir and was born in Springburn, Glasgow. After serving in the Royal Artillery during WWII, he worked as an Ordnance Survey surveyor before embarking on a full-time career as a climber, writer, and photographer. He was a member of the first postwar Himalayan expedition in 1950 and one of the first to explore Nepal's previously closed mountain ranges east of Kathmandu in 1952.

Weir became a trailblazer in the fight to protect Scotland's environment. He hosted the Scottish Television series Weir's Way, for which he received the 'Personality of the Year Award' in 1978. In 1976, he was awarded the MBE.

Weir Tartans

Ancient Weir

Weir Contemporary

Weir Crest & Coats of Arms

Clan Weir Crest

Crest Description: Gules, furred upon a chapeau Or, a boar statant ermine, Azure, armed

Coats of Arms of Weir:

A word about Coats of Arms:

A coat of arms is granted to an individual under Scottish heraldic law (with the exception of civic or corporate arms). A 'family coat of arms' does not exist. With the exceptions noted above, the arms depicted below are personal arms. Only the person who has been granted these weapons has the right to use them.