John Dewar, 1st Baron Forteviot


John Alexander Dewar, 1st Baron Forteviot was a Scottish businessman, elder son of the founder of John Dewar & Sons 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 in the House of Commons from 1900 to 1917 and was twice Lord Provost of Perth. 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 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.

Family

John Dewar Jr. was the son of John Dewar, Sr. and Jane Gow, and older brother of Thomas Dewar, 1st Baron Dewar, and Arthur Dewar.
He married Elsie Johann Tod in 1884, however, she died in 1899. In 1905, he married Margaret Elizabeth Holland, daughter of Henry Holland.
Children with Johann Todd:
Child with Elizabeth Holland:

Death

Lord Forteviot died in November 1929, aged 73, and was succeeded in his titles by his son from his first marriage, John.
He is buried with his family in the family plot at Aberdalgie just west of Perth, near the family seat of Dupplin.