Sir William Lithgow
(1934-2022)
Sir William Lithgow, who died on 28 February this year, was one of the pioneers of the a uaculture industry. Among many other achievements he was the founder of Landcatch, a salmon hatchery and land-based fish farm in the west of Scotland that is now part of the Hendrix Genetics group.
Born, in 1934, into one of Scotland’s leading industrial dynasties, Sir William’s family business was shipbuilding and at the age of 25 he became Chairman of Glasgow-based Lithgows. The company was part of the great Clydeside tradition of marine engineering, eventually merging with its neighbour Scotts to became Scott Lithgow.
Sir William became embroiled in a long battle with the UK government when, in 1977, Scott Lithgow became part of the nationalised – and ultimately unsuccessful – British Shipbuilders.
He challenged the takeover on the grounds that shareholders had not been fairly compensated, and took the argument to the uropean Court of Human ights in a case that lasted from 1977 to 1986. Although he lost, he always believed the dispute involved important matters of principle.
A chartered engineer, he was fascinated by the process of invention and turned his expertise to fish farming at his family estate at Ormsary, near Argyll. He helped to create a flow-through system using seawater from the nearby loch and powered by hydro-electric energy.
Colonel Sir James Lithgow, Sir William’s father, had installed a hydro system after the First World War and Ormsary House, the family home, was the first residence in Britain to be powered by a hydro-electric source.
By 1977 the system was in need of refurbishing and it was as part of that project that the present-day hatchery and smolt system was developed. With some funding from the Highlands and Islands evelopment Board, the Lithgow family linked the upper and lower sections of Loch an Torran to form a reservoir for the fish farm.
The first ”swirlpool” seawater tanks (1981) were 12m in diameter and are still in use today, supplemented by 25 metre vitreous protected steel farm slurry tanks.
As well as its innovative engineering solutions, Landcatch developed a new approach to genetic selection and breeding that helped the company to become one of the most respected names in the salmon sector.
Initially producing farmed salmon for harvest, Landcatch was for a time run in partnership with Thor Mowinkle, one of the co-founders of salmon giant Mowi. In 1990 Landcatch bought out the Norwegian interest and, during that decade, the company stopped producing grow-out salmon to focus on eggs and smolts. Landcatch’s eggs have been sold around the world, to customers as far away as Chile and North Korea.
Jarl van den Berg, General Manager, Hendrix Genetics Salmon UK, said: “Hendrix-Genetics, ac uired Landcatch from the Lithgow family in 2011. We ac uired a well performing salmon strain, fantastic staff, three excellent production locations across Scotland and the legacy of Sir William, a visionary and entrepreneur. Though we now operate to Hendrix-Genetics values, mission and vision as a small piece in a global company, we still enjoy the simplicity and connectivity of our small community on the Lithgow estate in Ormsary.
“Our thoughts and sympathies go out to the Lithgow family.”
Sir William is survived by his two sons James and John, who continue to run the hydro and wind energy side of the family enterprise his daughter Katrine, who runs a wedding business and his wife Mary.
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A chartered engineer, he was fascinated by the process invention” of