Telegraph Obituaries
Mon, 23 October 2023
George Marwick, departing Lord-Lieutenant of Orkney, being made Commander of the Victorian Order by Queen Elizabeth II in 2007 - Alamy
George Marwick, who has died aged 91, was a progressive farmer whose cheese, made on his family farm on the wind-battered northwesterly tip of the Orkney mainland and on the remote Kintyre Peninsula, fetched high prices, and was sold at Harrods; in the 1970s, as the first ever Convener of the newly instituted Orkney Island Council, he skilfully led negotiations with oil companies to get Orkney a good deal, resulting in the strategic Oil Reserve Fund, which is now worth over £200m.
He was born on February 27 1932, a scion of Orkney’s notable Marwick family; his relatives included the archaeologist Dr Hugh Marwick and the folklorist Ernest Walker Marwick, who anthologised Orkney verse. His father Robert Marwick was a civil engineer in charge of the construction of several wartime aerodromes, including Wick, and was later a director of George Wimpey Ltd; his mother Agnes (née Robson) was from Northumberland.
After graduating from Edinburgh School of Agriculture in 1953, George Marwick returned to manage the family farm of Swannay at Birsay. Hitherto cows on Orkney had been fed with neeps (turnips) and hay (which was difficult to make in the rainy climate); Marwick’s innovation was to use silage, which was a better option in Orkney’s damp and temperate conditions (typically 15C during the summer, with an annual rainfall of around 1 metre).
Growing better grass became his metier. He believed that only good grass would produce good milk, which in turn was essential for good cheese. He introduced chemical fertilisers, such as nitrogen, before his neighbours, who thought him iconoclastic, but soon he was able to sell Swannay Farm cheese at a premium.
By 2001, when the capital expenditure required by stricter EU regulations forced its closure, Swannay was making 280 tonnes of Cheddar annually, drawing on herd of 400 dairy cows, across 870 acres, and also buying in 900,000 litres of milk each year from the Orkney dairy farmers’ cooperative.
The cliffs of the Brough of Birsay, on the mainland of Orkney - Alamy
In 1968, he was asked by a couple of his farming neighbours to stand for Orkney County Council. He served for 10 years and, in 1975, became the first Convener of Orkney Island Council after Scottish local government reforms of the early 1970s.
The greatest challenge of his term as Convener was dealing with new opportunities presented by North Sea oil. His positive attitude – “If it is good for Orkney we should grasp it with both hands” – and entrepreneurial credentials made him the ideal figure to lead negotiations with the oil men.
The many well-paid jobs created at Occidental’s Flotta Oil Terminal and in OIC’s new Department of Harbours were a direct result of Orkney’s well-managed welcome to the oil industry under Marwick’s leadership. Most importantly, the oil money became the Oil Reserve Fund, now standing at about £200 million, which has cushioned for Orkney the recent Scottish Government funding cuts to local authorities.
In the mid-1970s, Marwick and Rupert Cooper took over and revamped the ailing Campbelltown Creamery, thus ensuring the continued viability of many dairy farms in the Kintyre Peninsula. Here they also produced high-quality cheese to complement that made at Swannay, and which was sold at a premium in the best outlets, including Harrods.
George Marwick in 2007
He was also a Director of North Eastern Farmers, Orkney Islands Shipping Company and Chairman of the North of Scotland Water Board, a member of the Countryside Commission for Scotland and of the Council of the National Trust for Scotland, an Honorary Sheriff in Kirkwall Sheriff Court and a Justice of the Peace.
Marwick was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Orkney in 1976, Vice Lord-Lieutenant in 1995 and Lord-Lieutenant from 1997 to 2007. He said one of the most satisfying aspects of being Lord-Lieutenant was the ex-officio appointment as Chairman of The Society of The Friends of St Magnus Cathedral, which helps keep up the impressive medieval St Magnus Cathedral, which is – unusually – not owned by the Church, but was bestowed upon the people of Kirkwall by James III of Scotland in 1486. George Marwick was appointed CVO in 2007.
He was the first President of Orkney Rugby Football Club in 1966, and enjoyed motorsport and rough shooting.
George Marwick married, first, in 1958 Copenhagen-born Hanne Jensen, and they had three daughters, one of whom, Kareen, represented Britain in the rowing team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The marriage was dissolved in 1989 and he married, secondly, Norma Gerrard (née Helm) in 1990. He is survived by his second wife and three daughters from his first marriage.
George Marwick, born February 27 1932, died September 1 2023
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