James Morton (chemist)
Sir James Morton FRSE LLD was a Scottish pioneer of fast dyes.Life
He was born at Gowanbank in Darvel in Ayrshire on 23 March 1867 the second son of Alexander Morton and his wife, Jane Wiseman. His father founded the weaving company of Alexander Morton & Company, employing 600 persons in the late 19th century. He was educated at Darvel School then Ayr Academy. He did not go to university and was trained as a chemist at Morton Sundour Mills in Carlisle, when his family purchased Denton Mills in that city. The company greatly expanded the use of Arts and Crafts designs in the late 19th century. James specialised in permanent light-fast dyes and moved to Scottish Dyes Limited around 1895. He went on to direct the dyestuffs section of ICI.
In 1915 he commissioned Sir Robert Lorimer to build new weaving sheds for Morton Sundour in Carlisle.
In 1929 he was the first recipient of the Faraday Centennial Medal in recognition of hs advances in making permant fade-proof dyes.
In 1930 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Thomas James Jehu, Sir James Walker, James Pickering Kendall and Ralph Allan Sampson. St Andrews University awarded him an honorary doctorate in the same year.
He was knighted in June 1936 by King George VI.
He died on 22 August 1943 at Dalston Hall near Carlisle.Family
In 1901 he married Beatrice Emily Fagan. They had two sons and four daughters.
