MacTutor
KENNETH KILPATRICK WEATHERHEAD, M.A., F.F.A., F.S.A., F.C.I.I. 1898-1979
Faculty of Actuaries obituary
After a very short illness Kenneth Weatherhead died on 26th September 1979, a man full of years who had gained the highest esteem in many and varied walks of life.
Although born in the South Side of Glasgow, the second son of an earlier Moderator of the United Free Church of Scotland, the young lad moved at an early age with the family to Dundee where he attended Dundee High School - a connection which he always treasured. Thereafter at Edinburgh University he was first in the John Welsh Mathematical Scholarship in 1916. Service with the Scots Guards interrupted his University career but in 1922 he graduated, getting a "First" in Mathematics. He qualified as a Fellow of the Faculty in 1925 and set out on a professional career which was to bring him wide recognition and many honours.
From the start he identified himself with the Faculty and all its activities. He became a Tutor in 1924 and four years later an Examiner. In 1935 he became Chairman of the Board of Examiners, a post he was to occupy for 13 years. In the meantime, from 1935 to 1945 he was Honorary Editor and Honorary Secretary from 1948 to 1952. His untiring work for the Faculty was recognised by his election as President, which office he held from 1954 to 1956. That latter year the Faculty celebrated its Centenary, and the success of the celebrations, when no detail of organisation appears to have been overlooked, and the enhancement of the Faculty's reputation world wide at that time, owes much to the overall guidance and leadership of Kenneth Weatherhead.
His ability and worth were recognised outwith the Faculty in many spheres. He had the unusual distinction of serving as Chairman of the Associated Scottish Life Offices on two separate occasions. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and of the Chartered Insurance Institute, of which body he was President in 1960-61. He represented the Faculty on the Council of the International Actuarial Association and was Vice-President for Great Britain from 1960 to 1966. The amazing amount of his service to the Faculty and to these other bodies was matched by its quality and explains the high esteem which he won from all those privileged to work with him.
His business career was always within the life assurance field. It began in 1922 with The Scottish Life Assurance Co. Ltd. in Edinburgh and in 1929 he became Assistant Actuary of The Scottish Equitable Life Assurance Society, later becoming Joint Actuary. Then in 1939, just prior to the outbreak of War, he returned to Glasgow on his appointment as Actuary and Secretary of The Scottish Temperance and General Assurance Co. Ltd. He became General Manager and Actuary in 1946 and his talents of leadership and administrative ability were soon in evidence as the company moved forward into the years of peace and modern technology. Under his guidance the company, which had always made claim to being mutual, successfully carried through the legal processes necessary to achieve fully mutual status by Private Act of Parliament under the new name of The Scottish Mutual Assurance Society. He was elected to the Board of Directors in 1959.
Outside his professional life his interests and activities amaze by their number and variety and a brief list can only give some slight indication of the demands made upon him. An elder of the Church of Scotland for many years, he was until lately Session Clerk of Wellington Church. He was a Vice-President of The National Bible Society of Scotland, a Trustee of the Church of Scotland Trust, Chairman of the Ferguson Bequest Fund, a Director of Kilmun Homes and Chairman of an Investment Trust. During the War he had been commissioned in the Home Guard, latterly serving on the Staff of the Glasgow Zone Commander, and was Captain in command of the Scottish contingent which took part in the 1943 "Birthday Parade" in London.
Those who were privileged to work with K. K. in any of his many spheres knew him as a man of quite outstanding principles and conviction and it is a very wide and varied circle who pay tribute to his achievements and acknowledge the friendship of a remarkable personality.
One could be excused for thinking that no time was left for the privacy of the home and family and for leisure hours. Far from it, and the love and warmth which surrounded him at a surprise party given by his family to celebrate his eightieth birthday gave ample evidence that this man, for all his time-consuming interests, was still a devoted and considerate husband and father. His recreations were latterly restricted to reading and gardening - he did have green fingers! - but at one time he was also a keen golfer and an ardent supporter of Scotland at Murrayfield. Every year without fail saw him and the family off to Iona in August, there to refresh and renew himself for the work ahead.
Throughout his busy and long active life K. K. was supported and sustained by his wife, herself a graduate of Edinburgh University and with many personal interests, notably in women's hockey circles. Mrs Weatherhead shared to the full his interests. and was a charming and gracious hostess whether in the intimacy of the home or in the formal atmosphere of the big social occasion. Together they shared sorrow and great happiness in the warmth and love of their family.
Although born in the South Side of Glasgow, the second son of an earlier Moderator of the United Free Church of Scotland, the young lad moved at an early age with the family to Dundee where he attended Dundee High School - a connection which he always treasured. Thereafter at Edinburgh University he was first in the John Welsh Mathematical Scholarship in 1916. Service with the Scots Guards interrupted his University career but in 1922 he graduated, getting a "First" in Mathematics. He qualified as a Fellow of the Faculty in 1925 and set out on a professional career which was to bring him wide recognition and many honours.
From the start he identified himself with the Faculty and all its activities. He became a Tutor in 1924 and four years later an Examiner. In 1935 he became Chairman of the Board of Examiners, a post he was to occupy for 13 years. In the meantime, from 1935 to 1945 he was Honorary Editor and Honorary Secretary from 1948 to 1952. His untiring work for the Faculty was recognised by his election as President, which office he held from 1954 to 1956. That latter year the Faculty celebrated its Centenary, and the success of the celebrations, when no detail of organisation appears to have been overlooked, and the enhancement of the Faculty's reputation world wide at that time, owes much to the overall guidance and leadership of Kenneth Weatherhead.
His ability and worth were recognised outwith the Faculty in many spheres. He had the unusual distinction of serving as Chairman of the Associated Scottish Life Offices on two separate occasions. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and of the Chartered Insurance Institute, of which body he was President in 1960-61. He represented the Faculty on the Council of the International Actuarial Association and was Vice-President for Great Britain from 1960 to 1966. The amazing amount of his service to the Faculty and to these other bodies was matched by its quality and explains the high esteem which he won from all those privileged to work with him.
His business career was always within the life assurance field. It began in 1922 with The Scottish Life Assurance Co. Ltd. in Edinburgh and in 1929 he became Assistant Actuary of The Scottish Equitable Life Assurance Society, later becoming Joint Actuary. Then in 1939, just prior to the outbreak of War, he returned to Glasgow on his appointment as Actuary and Secretary of The Scottish Temperance and General Assurance Co. Ltd. He became General Manager and Actuary in 1946 and his talents of leadership and administrative ability were soon in evidence as the company moved forward into the years of peace and modern technology. Under his guidance the company, which had always made claim to being mutual, successfully carried through the legal processes necessary to achieve fully mutual status by Private Act of Parliament under the new name of The Scottish Mutual Assurance Society. He was elected to the Board of Directors in 1959.
Outside his professional life his interests and activities amaze by their number and variety and a brief list can only give some slight indication of the demands made upon him. An elder of the Church of Scotland for many years, he was until lately Session Clerk of Wellington Church. He was a Vice-President of The National Bible Society of Scotland, a Trustee of the Church of Scotland Trust, Chairman of the Ferguson Bequest Fund, a Director of Kilmun Homes and Chairman of an Investment Trust. During the War he had been commissioned in the Home Guard, latterly serving on the Staff of the Glasgow Zone Commander, and was Captain in command of the Scottish contingent which took part in the 1943 "Birthday Parade" in London.
Those who were privileged to work with K. K. in any of his many spheres knew him as a man of quite outstanding principles and conviction and it is a very wide and varied circle who pay tribute to his achievements and acknowledge the friendship of a remarkable personality.
One could be excused for thinking that no time was left for the privacy of the home and family and for leisure hours. Far from it, and the love and warmth which surrounded him at a surprise party given by his family to celebrate his eightieth birthday gave ample evidence that this man, for all his time-consuming interests, was still a devoted and considerate husband and father. His recreations were latterly restricted to reading and gardening - he did have green fingers! - but at one time he was also a keen golfer and an ardent supporter of Scotland at Murrayfield. Every year without fail saw him and the family off to Iona in August, there to refresh and renew himself for the work ahead.
Throughout his busy and long active life K. K. was supported and sustained by his wife, herself a graduate of Edinburgh University and with many personal interests, notably in women's hockey circles. Mrs Weatherhead shared to the full his interests. and was a charming and gracious hostess whether in the intimacy of the home or in the formal atmosphere of the big social occasion. Together they shared sorrow and great happiness in the warmth and love of their family.
This obituary of Weatherhead by J.A. appears in: Kenneth Kilpatrick Weatherhead, Transactions of the Faculty of Actuaries 37 (1979-1981), 88-89.