Weir, Cecil James Mullo (1897-1985: Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages, University of Glasgow, Scotland, 1937-1968)

The Rev Professor Cecil James Mullo Weir was born in 1897 , the son of a solicitor, James Mullo Weir. He was educated at the Royal High School in Edinburgh and went on to study at the Universities of Edinburgh, Marburg, Paris and Leipzig, as well as Jesus College, Oxford. He served in the European war effort between 1917-1919 , assisting the Expeditionary Force in France, Belgium and Germany. He was a Tutor in Hebrew at the University of Edinburgh from 1921-1922, where he graduated MA with 1st Class Honours in Classics, in 1923 . In 1926 he graduated BD from the University of Edinburgh and in 1930 he gained his DPhil in Assyriology from the University of Oxford , where he read Accadian with Langdon. Weir then went to Kinross-shire to become the Minister of Orwell, a position he occupied from 1932-1934. He then returned to England, accepting the post of Rankin Lecturer and Head of the Department of Hebrew and Ancient Semitic Languages at the University of Liverpool. A further four years were spent as Lecturer in the Institute of Archaeology, Liverpool, from 1934-1937. He became Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages at the University of Glasgow in 1937 , a post he held until his retirement in 1968. He was one of the foremost Semitists of his day with a wide knowledge of semitic languages. He published a number of works, including: A Lexicon of Accadian Prayers in the Rituals of Expiation . London : Oxford University Press , 1934 . ; as well as contributing to Fortuna Domus . Glasgow : Glasgow University Press , 1952 . Rev Prof Weir also held a number of other high-profile positions, including: President of Glasgow Archaeological Society from 1945-1948 and Dean of the faculty of Divinity, University of Glasgow, from 1951-1954. An Honorary DD was bestowed upon him by the University of Edinburgh in 1959. He was a Fellow of the Royal Archaeological Society as well as a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Rev Prof Weir died in 1985 .