Thomas Lawrie
Thomas Lawrie (1901-1955), general manager of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board
1955 Obituary [1]
MR. THOMAS LAWRIE, general manager of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board, died suddenly in Edinburgh on Saturday, August 13th.
He was born at Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire, on March 8, 1901, and was an M.A. of Cambridge, where he took the mechanical sciences tripos in 1923. He was a member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and was awarded the C.B.E. in 1953.
Mr. Lawrie served an apprenticeship with the English Electric Company Ltd., at Stafford, and also worked in the shops at Monifieth Foundry, Dundee, and Fore River Shipyard, Boston, U.S.A. He was for three years in the hydro-electric section of the English Electric Company and later became secretary of the Power and Traction Finance Company, Ltd., which investigated and promoted electrification schemes in many parts of the world, including Belgrade, Budapest and Athens, and the Sudan Light and Power Company, which ran electricity and water supplies in Khartoum and Wad Medani.
He was concerned with the promotion of the Galloway Water Power Scheme and was secretary of the Galloway Water Power Company from 1931 to 1940.
During the second world war, Mr. Lawrie was a Lieutenant-Commander in the R.N.V.R. and saw service at Dunkirk and Dieppe.
He was released from the Services at the end of 1943 on the formation of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board, to become its first secretary. In 1948 he became general manager. Among his many other interests in the electrical supply industry he was taking a very active part in developing pumped storage schemes.