John McFarland Baxter
John McFarland Baxter (c1889-1952)
1952 Obituary [1]
We have learned with regret of the recent death of Mr. John M. Baxter, M.I.Mech.E., chief mechanical engineer of Sir William Arrol and Co., Ltd., Bridgeton, Glasgow.
Mr. Baxter, who was sixty-three, was a native of Broughty Ferry and received his early engineering training in the works of Urquhart Lindsay and Co., Ltd.
After a period in the south, Mr. Baxter joined the staff of Sir William Arrol and Co., Ltd., and had been in that company's service for thirty-seven years.
1953 Obituary [2]
JOHN MCFARLANE BAXTER, who died on 27th January 1952 at the age of sixty-three, was chief mechanical engineer at the Dalmarnock Works of Sir William Arrol and Company, Ltd., and had been in the service of the firm since 1914.
He was educated at Harris Academy and the Technical College in Dundee, where he gained the Armitstead Medal and Prize. Later he attended The Royal Technical College, Glasgow. He obtained his practical training with Urquhart, Lindsay and Company, Ltd., Dundee, from 1904 to 1909, and continued with the firm as a junior draughtsman for a further three years.
He was then engaged in a similar capacity by Fraser and Chalmers, Ltd., Erith, and afterwards by Aitken and Company, Ltd., Glasgow, as a technical engineer, before beginning his long association with the Dalmarnock Works as a draughtsman in the mechanical engineering department. In 1920 he was made chief estimator, and four years later was placed in charge of the mechanical engineering department. His responsibilities there were of a varied nature, and included the design of bridge and lock-gate machinery in addition to the supervision of site trials, the production of mechanical equipment for landing craft, and the design and co-ordination of large supplies for anti-aircraft equipment.
Mr. Baxter had been a Member of the Institution since 1945.