Duncan Harkness Weir was born in Greenock, Scotland, in 1822. He attended the University of Glasgow, graduating Master of Arts in 1840 and then as a Doctor of Divinity in 1864. He was appointed minister of the Scots Church in Manchester, England, in 1849, leaving the following year to take up the post of Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Languages at the University of Glasgow. He held this post until his death in 1876 as well as being Clerk to the Senate from 1855-1876 with responsibilities for the organisation of Senate, the University's governing body. Duncan died in Southport, England in 1876.
Source: Hew Scott, Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae: The Succession of Ministers in the Church of Scotland from the Reformation (Edinburgh, 1915- )
Thomas Hunter Weir, the son of Duncan Harkness Weir, was born in 1865. Thomas attended the University of Glasgow, gaining an MA and later received his Doctor of Divinity from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. From 1889-1891 he was a missionary at Kingairloch, Highland, Scotland, and in 1893 was appointed as assistant to James Robertson, Professor of Oriental Languages at the University of Glasgow. In 1907, he was given a lectureship in Arabic and in 1916 was awarded the Alexander Robertson lectureship for the defence of the Christian religion within the Faculty of Divinity at the University. He died in 1928.
Sources: 'Arabic scholar: late Rev. T H Weir of Glasgow University', Glasgow Herald (8 May 1928); 'Dr T H Weir' The Times (9 May 1928): A S Fulton 'Thomas Hunter Weir', Transactions, Glasgow University Oriental Society, vol 20 (1963-1964), pp 1-9
