(1926 – 2021) Museum Curator

Born on 7th March 1926 in Oakridge, Gloucester, Margaret Kate Weston was the daughter of two headteachers, Charles and Margaret Weston. She attended Stroud Highschool before going on to attend the University of London to study mechanical and electrical engineering. Prior to this she gained useful engineering experience from a neighbour, Walter Gardiner, when she used a workshop and lathe to repair bicycles.

Following her graduation, she joined the General Electric Company (GEC) as an electrical engineer, becoming one of only 3 female apprentices in that year's intake of 300. Following studying electrical engineering at the College of Technology in Birmingham (now Aston University) she became a Chartered Electrical Engineer at the age of 28.

In 1955 she joined the Science Museum as Assistant Keeper of Electrical Engineering and Communications. In 1967 she was promoted to Keeper of the Department of Museum Services, being the first woman to be made Keeper in the museum’s history.

In 1973 Margaret Weston became the first female director of a British national museum when she was appointed as Director of the Science Museum, replacing Sir David Follet. On her first day she visited York to announce that it would become the home of the new National Railway Museum, the first national museum to be opened outside if London. She would also establish the National Museum of Photograph, Film and Television in Bradford (now known as the National Science and Media Museum), which opened on 16th June 1983. Both of these, along with the acquisition of the former Wroughton airfield which became the National Collection Centre, led to the development of the Science Museum beyond its site in London and led to the formation of the Science Museum Group. She was also involved in the expansion of the museum’s collection with the acquisition of Concorde 002 and the long-term loan of the Wellcome Collection. In 1984 she retired from the museum, although she would remain involved in the heritage sector as a volunteer.

Outside of the Science Museum Margaret Weston was involved in numerous other bodies including the Ancient Monuments Board of England, the 1851 Commission and the Museums and Galleries Commission as well as being an honorary fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge. She would receive honorary degrees from Universities of Manchester, Salford, Aston, Bradford, Leeds, Loughborough, and the Open University. In 2018 she became a fellow of the Science Museum and also acted as a trustee of the Brooklands Museum, in Surrey, the Fleet Air Arm Museum, the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum and the Hunterian Museum (Royal College of Surgeons).

In 1979 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and on 12th January 2021 she died at the age of 94.