View source for John Boyd Orr

{{Short description|Scottish teacher (1880–1971)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2016}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_prefix  = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name              = The Lord Boyd-Orr
| birth_name        = John Boyd Orr
| image             = John Boyd Orr nobel.jpg
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1880|9|23|df=yes}}
| birth_place       = [[Kilmaurs]], [[Ayrshire]], Scotland
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1971|6|25|1880|9|23|df=y}}
| death_place       = [[Edzell]], [[Angus, Scotland|Angus]], Scotland
| education         = [[Kilmarnock Academy]] 
| spouse            = {{marriage|Elizabeth Pearson Callum|1915}}
| children          = 3
| field             = {{hlist|[[Biology]]|[[Medicine]]|[[Physiology|Nutritional physiology]]}}
| work_institutions = {{Plainlist|
* [[University of Glasgow]]
* [[Rowett Research Institute]], [[University of Aberdeen]]
* [[Food and Agriculture Organization]]
 }}
| alma_mater        = [[University of Glasgow]]
| academic_advisors = [[Edward Provan Cathcart|E. P. Cathcart]]{{sfn|Kay|1972|p=47}}
| doctoral_students =
| known_for         = Wartime nutrition
| awards            = {{Plainlist|
* Bellahouston Gold Medal
* Elected [[Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh|FRSE]], 1924{{sfn|RSE Fellows 1783–2002|p=134}}
* Elected [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]], 1932{{sfn|Kay|1972|p=54}}
* Knighted, 1935{{sfn|''The New York Times'' 26 Jun|1971}}
* [[Nobel Peace Prize]], 1949
 }}
| religion          = 
| footnotes         =  
}}
'''John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=|CH|DSO|MC|FRS|FRSE}} (23 September 1880 – 25 June 1971), styled '''Sir John Boyd Orr''' from 1935 to 1949, was a Scottish teacher, medical doctor, [[biologist]], [[nutritional science|nutritional]] [[physiology|physiologist]], politician, businessman and farmer who was awarded the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] for his scientific research into [[nutrition]] and his work as the first Director-General of the [[United Nations]] [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] (FAO).

He was the co-founder and the first President (1960–1971) of the [[World Academy of Art and Science]] (WAAS).<ref name="npg">{{NPG name|id=08505|name=John Boyd Orr}}</ref>{{sfn|Cuthbertson|2007|pp=1–5}}{{sfn|ODNB|2004}} In 1945, he was elected President of the [[National Peace Council]] and was President of the World Union of Peace Organisations and the World Movement for [[World Federalism|World Federal Government.]]{{sfn|Jahn|1949}}

== Early life and family background ==
[[File:Boydorrshouse.JPG|left|thumb|The birthplace of John Boyd Orr: Holland Green, Fenwick Road, Kilmaurs.]]
John Boyd Orr was born at [[Kilmaurs]], near [[Kilmarnock]], [[East Ayrshire]], Scotland, the middle child in a family of seven children. His father, Robert Clark Orr, was a quarry owner, and a man of deep religious convictions, being a member of the [[Free Church of Scotland (1843–1900)|Free Church of Scotland]]. His mother, Annie Boyd, was the daughter of another quarry master, wealthier than Robert Orr, and Past Master of a [[Masonic lodge]].

He was taught to read at an early age by his widowed grandmother, who lived with the family.{{sfn|Kay|1972|p=43}} The family home was well supplied with books, and his father was widely read in political, sociological and metaphysical subjects, as well as religion. As he grew older, John would regularly discuss these subjects with his father, brothers, and visiting friends.{{sfn|Kay|1972|p=43}}

When he was five years old, the family suffered a setback when a ship owned by Robert Orr was lost at sea. They had to sell their home in Kilmaurs, and moved to [[West Kilbride]], a village on the [[North Ayrshire]] coast. According to Kay, the new house and environment were a great improvement on Kilmaurs, despite the family's reduced means. The major part of his upbringing took place in and around West Kilbride. Apart from a four-month break at age thirteen, he attended the village school until age nineteen, the last four years as a [[pupil-teacher]]. Religion was then an important part of junior education in Scotland, and the school gave him a good knowledge of the [[Bible]], which stayed with him for the rest of his life, though he would ultimately shed the religious beliefs of his childhood.{{sfn|Kay|1972|p=44}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Callum G. |title=Ninety Humanists and the Ethical Transition of Britain: The Open Conspiracy 1930-80 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2025 |isbn=978-1-350-52829-1 |edition=1st |location=London}}</ref>

At the age of 13, Boyd Orr won a [[bursary]] to [[Kilmarnock Academy]], a significant achievement as such bursaries were then rare. The new school was some {{convert|20|mi|km}} from his home in West Kilbride, but his father owned a quarry about two miles (3&nbsp;km) from the academy, and John was provided with accommodation nearby. His family cut short his education at the academy because, at the expense of his school attendance, he was spending time with the quarry workers, who let him work the machinery, and from whom he picked up a "wonderful vocabulary of swear words".{{sfn|Kay|1972|p=44}} After four months he returned to the village school in West Kilbride where he continued his education under the inspirational tutelage of Headmaster John G. Lyons.{{sfn|Kay|1972|p=44}} There he became a pupil teacher at a salary of £10 for the first year, and £20 for the second. This was a particularly demanding time for the young Boyd Orr, as in addition to his teaching duties, and studying at home for his university entrance and teacher-training qualifications, he also had to work every day in his father's business.{{sfn|Kay|1972|p=44}}

==University of Glasgow==
After four years as a pupil-teacher, at the age of 19, he won a Queen's Scholarship to study at a teacher training college in [[Glasgow]], plus a bursary which paid for his lodgings there. The course required attending classes at the college, in addition to following the three-year Arts course, based on [[classics]], at the [[University of Glasgow|university]]. As Boyd Orr had passed his university entrance examinations, the fees for the university were also covered. The university education was considered the more important part of the course.{{sfn|Boyd Orr|1966|p=40}}

Boyd Orr criticised the university course because the hard work required to pass the exams did not allow sufficient time to meet and to discuss with students of different social backgrounds.{{efn|"As an example of this – from the time I was a boy of fourteen my nose had been rubbed in Shakespeare's works. I had been forced to learn long passages by heart, to write essays and to annotate. As a result, I have never read a play by Shakespeare." {{harv|Boyd Orr|1966|p=42}}}} Away from home for the first time, it was at the University of Glasgow that Boyd Orr left behind the strict religious regime of his youth, later writing that Darwinian evolutionary theory broke the hold of biblical teachings.<ref name=":0" />

== First encounters with poverty and teaching career ==
As an undergraduate in Glasgow, he explored the interior of the city, usually at weekends. He was shocked by what he found in the poverty-stricken slums and tenements, which then made up a large part of the city. [[Rickets]] was obvious among the children, malnutrition (in some cases, associated with drunkenness) was shown by many of the adults, and many of the aged were destitute. In his first teaching job after graduating [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]] in 1902, he was posted to a school in the slums. His first class was overcrowded and the children ill-fed or actually hungry, inadequately clothed, visibly lousy and physically wretched. He resigned after a few days since he realised that he could not teach children in such a condition and that there was nothing he could do to relieve their misery.{{sfn|Kay|1972|p=46}}

After working for a few months in his father's business, he taught for three years at Kyleshill School in [[Saltcoats]], also a poor area, but less squalid than the slums of [[Glasgow]]. Boyd Orr needed to augment his teacher's salary, and decided to do so by instructing an evening class in book-keeping and accountancy. After intensive study he passed the necessary examinations, and duly instructed his class. The knowledge and skills he learned by studying for and teaching this class were to prove useful in his later career.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

== Return to university ==
Boyd Orr realised that his heart was not in teaching, and after fulfilling his teaching obligations under the terms of his Queen's Scholarship, he returned to the university to study [[biology]], a subject he had always been interested in since childhood. As a precaution, he entered simultaneously for a degree in [[medicine]].

He found the university to be a stimulating environment. [[Diarmid Noel Paton]] (son of the artist [[Joseph Noel Paton]]) was [[Regius Professor of Physiology (Glasgow)|Regius Professor of Physiology]], and [[Edward Provan Cathcart]] head of [[Physiological chemistry|Physiological Chemistry]], both men of outstanding scientific ability. He was impressed by Samson Gemmell, Professor of Clinical Medicine,{{sfn|Boyd Orr|1966|p=41}} a philosopher whose deep thinking on social affairs also influenced Boyd Orr's approach to such questions.{{sfn|Kay|1972|p=46}}

Half-way through his medical studies, his savings ran out. Reluctant to ask his family for support, he bought a block of tenanted flats on mortgage, with the help of a bank overdraft, and used the rents to pay for the rest of his studies. On graduating, he sold the property for a small profit.

He graduated with a [[BSc]] in 1910, and [[Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery|MB ChB]] in 1912, at the age of 32, placing sixth in a year of 200 students. Two years later, in 1914, he graduated [[Doctor of Medicine#United Kingdom, Ireland and some Commonwealth countries|MD]] with honours, receiving the Bellahouston Gold Medal for the most distinguished thesis of the year.

== Research career ==
On leaving the university, he took a position as a ship's surgeon on a ship trading between Scotland and West Africa, choosing this job because it offered the possibility of paying off his bank overdraft faster than any other. He resigned after four months, when he had repaid the debt. He then tried general practice, working as a ''[[locum]]'' in the practice of his family doctor in [[Saltcoats]], and was offered a partnership there. Realising that a career in medicine was not for him, he instead accepted the offer of a two-year Carnegie research scholarship, to work in [[Edward Provan Cathcart|E. P. Cathcart]]'s laboratory. The work he began there covered [[malnutrition]], [[protein]]{{sfn|Cathcart|Orr|1914|pp=113–127}} and [[creatine]]{{sfn|Cathcart|Boyd Orr|1914|pp=xxi–xxii}}{{sfn|Boyd Orr|1914}} [[metabolism]], the effect of water intake on [[nitrogenous]] metabolism in humans,{{sfn|Boyd Orr|Burns|1914}}{{sfn|Orr|1914|pp=530–540}} and the energy expenditure of military recruits in training.{{sfn|Boyd Orr|Cathcart|1919}}

=== The beginnings of the Rowett Research Institute ===
On 1 April 1914, Boyd Orr took charge of a new research institute in [[Aberdeen]], a project of a joint committee for research into animal nutrition of the [[Scottish Agricultural College|North of Scotland College of Agriculture]] and the [[University of Aberdeen]]. He had been offered the post on the recommendation of E. P. Cathcart, who had originally been offered the job, but had turned it down in favour of a chair in [[physiology]] in [[University of London|London]].

The joint committee had allocated a budget of £5,000 for capital expenditure and £1,500 for annual running costs. Boyd Orr recognised immediately that these sums were inadequate. Using his experience in his father's business of drawing up plans and estimating costs, he submitted a budget of £50,000 for capital expenditure and £5,000 for annual running costs. Meanwhile, with the £5,000 he had already been allocated he specified a building, not of wood as had been envisaged by the committee, but of granite and designed so that it could serve as a wing of his proposed £50,000 Institute. He accepted the lowest tender of £5,030, and told the contractors to begin work immediately. The committee were not pleased, but had to accept the ''[[fait accompli]]''. When war broke out the contractors were told to finish the walls and roof, but to do no more for the time being.

=== War service (1914–1918) ===
On the outbreak of the [[World War I|First World War]] he was given leave to join the [[British Army]], and asked his former colleague E. P. Cathcart to help him obtain a medical commission in an infantry unit overseas. Cathcart thought he would be more useful at home, and his first commission<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28975|page=9634|date=14 November 1914|supp=y}}</ref> was in a special civilian section of the [[Royal Army Medical Corps|R.A.M.C.]] dealing with sanitation. Several divisions of non-conscripted recruits were in training in emergency camps at home, some of them in poor sanitary conditions. Boyd Orr was able to push through schemes for improvement in hygiene, preventing much sickness.{{sfn|Kay|1972|p=49}}

After 18 months he was posted as [[Physician|Medical Officer]] to an infantry unit, the [[Sherwood Foresters|1st battalion Sherwood Foresters]]. He spent much of his time in shell holes, patching up the many wounded. His courage under fire and devotion to duty were recognised by the award of a [[Military Cross]] after the [[Battle of the Somme]],<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29724|page=8464|date=26 August 1916|supp=y}}</ref> and of the [[Distinguished Service Order]] after [[Battle of Passchendaele|Passchendaele]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30308|page=9968|date=25 September 1917|supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30466|page=565|date=8 January 1918|supp=y}}</ref> He also made arrangements for the battalion's diet to be supplemented by vegetables collected from local deserted gardens and fields. As a result, unlike other units, he did not need to send any of the men in his medical charge to hospital. He also prevented his men getting [[trench foot]] by personally ensuring they were fitted with boots a size larger than usual.{{sfn|Kay|1972|p=49}} He was appointed a Captain in the RAMC with effect from 5 May 1918, having previously been a temporary Captain.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=32820|page=3321|date=4 May 1923}}</ref>

Worried that he was losing touch with medical and nutritional advances, he asked to be transferred to the [[Royal Navy|navy]], where he thought he would have more time available for reading and research. The army was reluctant to let him go, but agreed, since he was still a civilian surgeon. He spent a busy three months in the naval hospital at [[Chatham Dockyard|Chatham]], studying hard while practicing medicine in the wards, before being posted to [[HMS Furious (47)|HMS ''Furious'']]. On board ship his medical duties were light, enabling him to do a great deal of reading. He was later recalled to work studying food requirements of the army.

=== Post-war expansion of the Rowett Research Institute ===
When Boyd Orr returned to Aberdeen in early 1919, his plan for a larger Institute had still not been accepted. Indeed, even his plans for the annual maintenance grant had to be approved by the Professor of Agriculture in [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]], [[Thomas Barlow Wood]]. Despite gaining the latter's support, his expansion plans were at first rebuffed, although he succeeded in having the annual grant increased to £4,000. In 1920 he was introduced to [[John Quiller Rowett]], a businessman who seemed to have qualms of conscience{{sfn|Kay|1972|p=51}} over the large profits he had made during the war. Shortly afterwards, the government agreed to finance half the cost of Boyd Orr's plan, provided he could raise the other half elsewhere. Rowett agreed to provide £10,000 for the first year, £10,000 for the second year, and gave an additional £2,000 for the purchase of a farm, provided that, "if any work done at the Institute on animal nutrition was found to have a bearing on human nutrition, the Institute would be allowed to follow up this work",{{sfn|RRI|2005}} a condition the [[HM Treasury|Treasury]] was willing to accept. By September 1922 the buildings were nearly completed, and the renamed [[Rowett Research Institute]] was opened shortly thereafter by [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]].{{sfn|Kay|1972|p=52}}

Boyd Orr proved to be an effective fund-raiser from both government and private sources,{{sfn|Smith|1998|pp=47–63}} expanding the experimental farm to around {{convert|1000|acre|ha|sigfig=1|abbr=off}}, building a well-endowed library, and expanding the buildings. He also built a centre for accommodating students and scientists attracted by the institute's growing reputation, a reputation enhanced by Boyd Orr's many publications.{{sfn|Kay|1972|p=54}} His research output suffered from the time and energy he had to devote to fund-raising, and in later life he said, "I still look with bitter resentment at having to spend half my time in the humiliating job of hunting for money for the Institute."{{sfn|Kay|1972|p=52}}

Through the 1920s, his own research was devoted mainly to animal nutrition, his focus changed to human nutrition both as a researcher and an active lobbyist and propagandist for improving people's diets. [[Isabella Leitch]] had been employed as a temporary librarian but she was soon his assistant where she spread "the gospel according to Sir John".<ref>{{Cite ODNB |title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=2004-09-23 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/61346 |pages=ref:odnb/61346 |editor-last=Matthew |editor-first=H. C. G. |access-date=2023-03-05 |place=Oxford |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/61346 |editor2-last=Harrison |editor2-first=B.}}</ref> In 1927, Boyd Orr proved the value of milk being supplied to school children, which led to free school milk provision in the UK. His 1936 report "Food, Health and Income" showed that at least one third of the UK population were so poor that they could not afford to buy sufficient food to provide a healthy diet and revealed that there was a link between low-income, malnutrition and under-achievement in schools.{{sfn|UoG}}  He was appointed a member of the short-lived Livestock Commission under the [[Livestock Industry Act 1937]] in 1937.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34420|page=4743|date=23 July 1937}}</ref>

From 1929 to 1944, Boyd Orr was Consultant Director to the Imperial Bureau of Animal Nutrition, later the Commonwealth Bureau of Nutrition (part of the [[CAB International|Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux]]), which was based at the Rowett Research Institute. During the Second World War he was a member of Churchill's Scientific Committee on Food Policy and helped to formulate food rationing{{sfn|UoG}}

Boyd Orr was knighted in the [[1935 New Year Honours]] for services to agriculture.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34119|page=2|date=28 December 1934|supp=y}}</ref>

== International and political work ==
In October 1945, Orr was elected [[Rector of the University of Glasgow]] after standing as an Independent Progressive candidate.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=16389|page=458|date=26 November 1945|city=e}}</ref>{{sfn|''The Glasgow Herald'' 22 Oct|1945|p=4}} He was elected as an independent [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for the [[Combined Scottish Universities (UK Parliament constituency)|Combined Scottish Universities]] in a [[1945 Combined Scottish Universities by-election|by-election in April 1945]],{{sfn|''The Glasgow Herald'' 14 Apr|1945|p=10}} and kept his seat at the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|general election]] shortly after. He [[resignation from the British House of Commons|resigned]] in 1946.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37763|page=5157|date=18 October 1946|supp=y}}</ref>

After the [[Second World War]], Boyd Orr resigned from the Rowett Institute, and took several posts, most notably as Director-General of the United Nations' new Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).{{sfn|''The Glasgow Herald'' 28 Oct|1945|p=3}}{{sfn|''The Glasgow Herald'' 1 Dec|1945|p=2}} Although his tenure in this position was short (1945–1948), he worked not only to alleviate the immediate postwar food shortage through the International Emergency Food Committee (IEFC) but also to propose comprehensive plans for improving food production and its equitable distribution. His proposal to create a World Food Board to increase price stability by way of large scale commodity [[food storage|storage]]. Although the board failed to get the support of Britain and the US, Boyd Orr laid a firm foundation for the new UN-specialized agency.{{sfn|Staples|2006|pp=78–96}}{{sfn|Staples|2003|pp=495–523}}<ref name="Butler-2014">{{cite book | last=Butler | first=C. D. | editor-last=Freedman | editor-first=Bill | title=Global environmental change | publisher=[[Springer Publishing|Springer]] | publication-place=Dordrecht | year=2014 | isbn=978-94-007-5783-7 | oclc=888154438 | language=en | pages=XXVII+973}} {{ISBN|978-94-007-5784-4}} {{ISBN|978-94-007-5785-1}} p.{{spaces}}632</ref>

He then resigned from the FAO and became director of a number of companies and proved a canny investor in the stock market, making a considerable personal fortune. When he received the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] in 1949,{{efn|The [[American Friends Service Committee]] was one of his nominators for the Nobel Prize {{harv|AFSC Nobel Nominations}}.}} he donated the entire financial award to organizations devoted to world peace and a united world government. He was elevated to the peerage in the [[1949 New Year Honours]] as '''Baron Boyd-Orr''', of Brechin Mearn in the County of Angus.{{sfn|Kay|1972|p=73}}<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=38493|page=1|date=31 December 1948|supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=38558 |date=11 March 1949 |page=1264}}</ref>

In 1957, Boyd Orr served as president of the Second [[Humanists International|International Humanist Congress]],<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/sim_new-humanist_1957-08_72_8 |title=The Humanist |date=August 1957 |publisher=Rationalist Press Association |others=Internet Archive |volume=72 |language=English |issue=8}}</ref> and contributed to the 1968 volume ''The Humanist Outlook'' alongside many other prominent humanists''.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Humanist Heritage: John Boyd Orr (1880–1971) |url=https://heritage.humanists.uk/john-boyd-orr/ |access-date=2025-12-22 |website=Humanist Heritage |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ayer |first=A. J. (Alfred Jules) |url=http://archive.org/details/humanistoutlook0000ayer |title=The Humanist Outlook |date=1968 |publisher=Pemberton; Barrie & Rockliff |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-301-66764-5 |edition=1st |location=London}}</ref>

In 1960 Boyd Orr was elected the first president of the [[World Academy of Art and Science]], which was set up by eminent scientists of the day concerned about the potential misuse of scientific discoveries, most especially nuclear weapons.

Along with [[Albert Einstein]], Orr was one of the sponsors of the [[Peoples' World Convention]] (PWC), also known as Peoples' World Constituent Assembly (PWCA), which took place in 1950–51 at Palais Electoral, [[Geneva]], Switzerland.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Einstein |first1=Albert |url=http://archive.org/details/einsteinonpeace00eins |title=Einstein on peace |last2=Nathan |first2=Otto |last3=Norden |first3=Heinz |date=1968 |publisher=New York, Schocken Books |others=Internet Archive |pages=539, 670, 676}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=[Carta] 1950 oct. 12, Genève, [Suiza] [a] Gabriela Mistral, Santiago, Chile [manuscrito] Gerry Kraus. |url=http://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/623/w3-article-137193.html |access-date=2023-10-19 |website=BND: Archivo del Escritor}}</ref> He was also one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a [[world constitution]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Letters from Thane Read asking Helen Keller to sign the World Constitution for world peace. 1961 |url=https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-07-B149-F04-022.1.8 |access-date=2023-07-01 |website=Helen Keller Archive |publisher=American Foundation for the Blind}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Letter from World Constitution Coordinating Committee to Helen, enclosing current materials |url=https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-07-B154-F05-028.1.6 |access-date=2023-07-03 |website=Helen Keller Archive |publisher=American Foundation for the Blind}}</ref> As a result, for the first time in human history, a [[World Constituent Assembly]] convened to draft and adopt the [[Constitution for the Federation of Earth]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Preparing earth constitution {{!}} Global Strategies & Solutions {{!}} The Encyclopedia of World Problems |url=http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en/strategy/193465 |url-status=dead |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=The Encyclopedia of World Problems {{!}} Union of International Associations (UIA) |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719215501/http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en/strategy/193465 }}</ref>

Boyd Orr was a member of [[Bertrand Russell]]'s ''Who Killed Kennedy? Committee'' which challenged the official version of the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Bertrand Russell Calls Report 'Sorrily Incompetent Document' |work=[[Spartanburg Herald-Journal]] |date=28 September 1964}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1915, Boyd Orr married Elizabeth Pearson Callum, whom he had met as a teenager in [[West Kilbride]].{{sfn|Kay|1972|p=48}}{{sfn|Boyd Orr|1966|p=36}} They had three children: Elizabeth Joan (born 1916), Helen Anne (born 1919) and Donald Noel (1921–1942).{{sfn|Kay|1972|pp=74, 75}} His son was killed on active service during the Second World War.{{sfn|ODNB|2004}} 

==Arms==
{{Emblem table
|image = [[File:Coronet of a British Baron.svg|centre|150px]][[File:Boyd-Orr Escutcheon.png|centre|200px]]
|escutcheon = Argent three piles conjoined in point Gules each charged with a wheat ear Or on a chief chequy of the second and first a pale Azure charged with an estoile of six rays of the first.
|crest = A dexter hand couped at the wrist with a dove rising her wings elevated holding in her beak an olive twig.
|supporters = Two wheat sheaves all Proper.
|motto = Panis Et Pax<ref>{{cite book|title=Burke's Peerage |date=1956}}</ref>}}

==Death and legacy==
Boyd Orr died on 25 June 1971 in [[Brechin]], Scotland; he was 90 years old.{{sfn|ODNB|2004}} His grave is at Stracathro Kirkyard, Angus.

The [[University of Glasgow]]'s Boyd Orr Building and the Boyd Orr Centre for Population and Ecosystem Health{{sfn|Boyd Orr Centre}} are named after him, and the university's [[Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery|Hunterian Museum]] holds his Nobel Peace Prize medal. 

There is a street named for Boyd Orr in his home town of Kilmaurs in Ayrshire, as well as others in [[Aberdeen]], [[Brechin]], [[Laurencekirk]], [[Penicuik]], [[Saltcoats]] and [[Strathaven]].{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} There is also a road named after him in [[Harare]], Zimbabwe.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbTEDCidlMA | title=This is the man behind ORR Street in Harare - Know Your Streets | website=[[YouTube]] | date=8 June 2022 }}</ref>

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book| title = Scotch Church Crisis: The Full Story of the Modern Phase of the Presbyterian Struggle
 | last = Boyd Orr | first = John | year = 1905
 | publisher = John M'Neilage | location = Glasgow
}}
*{{cite book| title = Minerals in Pastures and Their Relation to Animal Nutrition
 | last = Boyd Orr | first = John | year = 1929
 | author-mask = 6
 | publisher = Lewis | location = London
}}
*{{cite book| title = The National Food Supply and Its Influence on Public Health
 | last = Boyd Orr | first = John | year = 1934
 | author-mask = 6
 | publisher = King | location = London
}}
*{{cite book| title = Food, Health and Income
 | last = Boyd Orr | first = John | year = 1936
 | author-mask = 6
 | publisher = Macmillan | location = London
 | url = http://www.sochealth.co.uk/public-health-and-wellbeing/food-policy/food-health-and-income/
}}
*{{cite book| title = Nutritional Science and State Planning
 | last = Boyd Orr | first = John | year = 1937
 | author-mask = 6
}}in {{harvcol|Orr}}
*{{cite book| title = Nutrition in war
 | last = Boyd Orr | first = John | year = 1940
 | author-mask = 6
 | publisher = [[Fabian Society]] | location = London
 | series = Fabian Tract 251
 | url = https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/nutrition-in-war-1940/100602
}}
*{{cite book| title = Fighting for What?
 | last = Boyd Orr | first = John | year = 1942
 | author-mask = 6
 | publisher = Macmillan | location = London
}}
*{{cite book| title = Food and the People
 | last = Boyd Orr | first = John | year = 1943
 | author-mask = 6
 | publisher = Pilot Press | location = London
}}
*{{cite book| title = Welfare and Peace
 | last = Boyd Orr | first = John | year = 1945
 | author-mask = 6
 | publisher = [[National Peace Council]] | location = London
}}
*{{cite book| title = A Charter for Health
 | last = Boyd Orr | first = John | year = 1946
 | author-mask = 6
 | publisher = Allen & Unwin | location = London
}}
*{{cite book| title = Food: The Foundation of World Unity
 | last = Boyd Orr | first = John | year = 1948
 | author-mask = 6
 | publisher = [[National Peace Council]] | location = London
}}
*{{cite book| title = International Liaison Committee of Organisations for Peace: A New Strategy of Peace
 | last = Boyd Orr | first = John | year = 1950
 | author-mask = 6
 | publisher = [[National Peace Council]] | location = London
}}
*{{cite book| title = Feast and famine: The wonderful world of food
 | last = Boyd Orr | first = John | year = 1957
 | author-mask = 6
 | publisher = Rathbone Books | location = London
}}
*{{cite book| title = The Wonderful World of Food: The Substance of Life
 | last = Boyd Orr | first = John | year = 1958
 | author-mask = 6
 | publisher = Garden City Books | location = Garden City, NY
}}
*{{cite book| title = As I recall: the 1880s to the 1960s
 | last = Boyd Orr | first = John | year = 1966
 | author-mask = 6
 | others = with an introduction by [[Peter Ritchie Calder|Ritchie Calder]]
 | publisher = MacGibbon & Kee | location = London
}}
; with other authors
*{{cite book| title = Feeding the people in war time
 | last1 = Boyd Orr | first1 = John
 | last2 = Lubbock | first2 = David
 | year = 1940
 | publisher = Macmillan | location = London
 | url = https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.84125 | via = [[Internet Archive]]
}}
*{{cite book| title = The White Man's Dilemma: Food and the Future | edition = 2nd
 | last1 = Boyd Orr | first1 = John
 | last2 = Lubbock | first2 = David
 | year = 1964 | orig-year = First published 1953
 | publisher = Allen & Unwin | location = London
}}
*{{cite book |last=Boyd Orr |first=John |date=1968 |title=The Humanist Outlook |chapter=The Undeveloped Countries |url= |location=London |publisher=Pemberton Publishing Co. |page= |isbn=9780301667645 |access-date=}}
*{{cite book| title = Ethical Choice
 | last1 = Boyd Orr | first1 = John
 | last2 = Beck | first2 = Robert Nelson
 | year = 1970
 | publisher = Free Press | location = London
 | url = https://archive.org/details/ethicalchoicecas00beck | url-access = registration | via = [[Internet Archive]]
 | isbn = 978-0-02-902070-8
}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist|20em}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin|30em}}
*{{Cite web
 | title = Boyd Orr Centre for Population and Ecosystem Health
 | url = http://www.gla.ac.uk/boydorr/
 | ref = {{harvid|Boyd Orr Centre}}
 }}
*{{Cite book| title = The energy expenditure of infantry recruits in training
 | last1 = Boyd Orr | first1 = J
 | last2 = Cathcart | first2 = E. P.
 | author2-link = Edward Provan Cathcart
 | year = 1919
 | publisher = [[HMSO]] | location = London
}}
*{{Cite thesis| type = M.D. thesis| title = A contribution to the metabolism of creatine
 | last = Boyd Orr | first = John
 | publisher = [[University of Glasgow]]
 | date = June 1914
}}
*{{cite web
 | title = Lord Boyd Orr: Nobel Lecture
 | last = Boyd Orr
 | first = John
 | publisher = Nobel Media AB
 | url = https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1949/orr/lecture/
 | date = 12 December 1949
 | access-date = 8 December 2018
 | ref = {{harvid|Nobel Lecture|1949}}
 }} From ''Nobel Lectures, Peace 1926-1950'', Editor Frederick W. Haberman, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1972
*{{cite journal | title = The influence of excessive water ingestion on the excretion of creatine and creatinine
 | last1 = Boyd Orr | first1 = John
 | last2 = Burns | first2 = D.
 | journal = British Medical Journal
 | date = 19 September 1914
}}
*{{cite encyclopedia
 | title = Boyd-Orr of Brechin Mearns, John Boyd Orr, Baron
 | encyclopedia = [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]
 | year = 2007
 | url = http://library.eb.co.uk/eb/article-9016065
 | access-date = 11 August 2007
 | ref = {{harvid|Encyclopædia Britannica|2007}}
 }}
*{{cite journal
 | title = The influence of acetoacetic acid on the estimation of creatinine
 | last1 = Cathcart
 | first1 = E. P.
 | last2 = Boyd Orr
 | first2 = John
 | author1-link = Edward Provan Cathcart
 | journal = The Journal of Physiology
 | year = 1914
 | volume = 48
 | pages = xxi–xxii
 | url = http://jp.physoc.org/cgi/reprint/48/Suppl/xix.pdf
 | url-status = dead
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090326181654/http://jp.physoc.org/cgi/reprint/48/Suppl/xix.pdf
 | archive-date = 26 March 2009
 | doi = 10.1113/jphysiol.1914.sp001679
 | s2cid = 222198195
 }}
*{{Cite journal | title = The influence of carbohydrate and fat on protein metabolism: III. The effect of sodium selenite
 | last1 = Cathcart | first1 = E. P.
 | last2 = Orr | first2 = J. B.
 | author1-link = Edward Provan Cathcart
 | journal = The Journal of Physiology
 | year = 1914 | volume = 48 | issue = 2–3 | pages = 113–127
 | doi = 10.1113/jphysiol.1914.sp001651 | pmc = 1420513 | pmid = 16993271
}}
*{{Cite journal | title = Lord Boyd Orr (23 September 1880 to 25 June 1971) | last = Cuthbertson | first = D. P. | journal = British Journal of Nutrition | year = 2007 | volume = 27 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–5 | url = https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/46B9C0693565C3EAB70D2FA748010DFD/S0007114572000789a.pdf/div-class-title-lord-boyd-orr-23-september-1880-to-25-june-1971-div.pdf | doi = 10.1079/BJN19720063 | pmid = 4550999 | s2cid = 26509839 }}
*{{cite news
 |title       = Eliminating Hunger in the World. United Nations' Food Policy
 |newspaper   = The Herald
 |location    = Glasgow
 |page        = 2
 |url         = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3kBAAAAAIBAJ&pg=5960%2C4876844
 |date        = 1 December 1945
 |access-date = 15 November 2017
 |ref         = {{harvid|''The Glasgow Herald'' 1 Dec|1945}}
}}
*{{cite web
 | title = Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002
 | publisher = [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
 | url = https://www.rse.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/all_fellows.pdf
 | access-date = 14 December 2018
 | ref = {{harvid|RSE Fellows 1783–2002}}
 }}
*{{cite web
 | title = General Information
 | publisher = [[Rowett Research Institute]]
 | year = 2005
 | url = http://www.rowett.ac.uk/institute/history.html
 | url-status = dead
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061229125832/http://www.rowett.ac.uk/institute/history.html
 | access-date = 20 July 2007
 | archive-date = 29 December 2006
 | ref = {{harvid|RRI|2005}}
 }}
*{{cite web
 | title = Award ceremony speech
 | last = Jahn
 | first = Gunnar
 | publisher = Nobel Media AB
 | url = https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1949/ceremony-speech/
 | date = 10 December 1949
 | publication-date = 2018
 | access-date = 7 December 2018
 }}
*{{cite web
 | title = John Boyd Orr biography
 | publisher = University of Glasgow
 | url = http://www.worldchanging.glasgow.ac.uk/article/?id=79
 | access-date = 22 November 2018
 | ref = {{harvid|UoG}}
 | archive-date = 17 October 2021
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211017010745/https://worldchanging.glasgow.ac.uk/article/?id=79
 | url-status = dead
 }}
*{{Cite journal | title = John Boyd Orr. Baron Boyd Orr of Brechin Mearns 1880–1971
 | last = Kay | first = H. D.
 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]]
 | year = 1972 | volume = 18 | pages = 43–81
 | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1972.0004 | pmid = 11615751
 | doi-access = 
}}
*{{cite web
 | title = Lord Boyd Orr – Biographical
 | publisher = Nobel Media AB
 | year = 2018
 | url = https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1949/orr/biographical/
 | access-date = 8 December 2018
 | ref = {{harvid|Nobel Prize – Biographical}}
 }}
*{{cite news
 | title = Lord Boyd Orr, 90, F.A.O. Leader, Dies
 | newspaper = [[The New York Times]]
 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/26/archives/lord-boyd-orr-90-fao-leader-dies-lord-boyd-orr-exfao-head-dies.html
 | date = 26 June 1971
 | access-date = 7 December 2018
 | ref = {{harvid|''The New York Times'' 26 Jun|1971}}
 }}
*{{Cite journal
 | title = Lord Boyd Orr, CH, DSO, MC, LL.D, D.Sc, MD, FRSE, FRS
 | journal = British Medical Journal
 | department = Obituary Notices
 | date = 3 July 1971
 | volume = 3
 | issue = 5765
 | pages = 54–55
 | url = https://www.bmj.com/content/3/5765/54
 | url-access = subscription
 | doi = 10.1136/bmj.3.5765.54
 | s2cid = 220196159
 | ref = {{harvid|BMJ obit|1971}}
 }}
*{{cite news
 | title = Lord Boyd Orr: Scientist crusader for better nutrition
 | newspaper = [[The Times]]
 | department = Obituary
 | location = London
 | issue = 58209
 | page = 14
 | url = http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=inde80299&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=CS237335770&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0
 | url-access = subscription
 | date = 26 June 1971
 | access-date = 11 December 2018
 | ref = {{harvid|''The Times'' 26 Jun|1971}}
 }}
*{{Cite web
 | title = Nobel Peace Prize Nominations
 | publisher = [[American Friends Service Committee]]
 | url = http://www.afsc.org/about/nobel/past-nominations.htm
 | date = 14 April 2010
 | access-date = 23 November 2018
 | ref = {{harvid|AFSC Nobel Nominations}}
 | archive-date = 15 August 2008
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080815101402/https://www.afsc.org/about/nobel/past-nominations.htm
 | url-status = dead
 }}
*{{Cite journal | title = The Influence of Excessive Water Ingestion on Protein Metabolism
 | last = Orr | first = J. B.
 | journal = The Biochemical Journal
 | year = 1914 | volume = 8 | issue = 5 | pages = 530–540
 | doi = 10.1042/bj0080530 | pmc = 1276600 | pmid = 16742337
}}
*{{cite book| title = What Science Stands For
 | editor-last = Orr | editor-first = John Boyd
 | publisher = Allen & Unwin | location = London
}}
*{{Cite ODNB| title = Orr, John Boyd
 | year = 2004
 | doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/31519
 | ref = {{harvid|ODNB|2004}}
}}
*{{cite news
 |title       = Scots MP vacates seat
 |newspaper   = The Herald
 |location    = Glasgow
 |page        = 4
 |url         = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mjA1AAAAIBAJ&pg=4069%2C1834226
 |date        = 4 October 1946
 |access-date = 24 March 2017
 |ref         = {{harvid|''The Glasgow Herald'' 4 Oct|1946}}
}}
*{{cite news
 |title       = Sir John Boyd Orr Chief of F.A.O
 |newspaper   = The Herald
 |location    = Glasgow
 |page        = 3
 |url         = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Njs1AAAAIBAJ&pg=2539%2C3048340
 |date        = 28 October 1945
 |access-date = 15 November 2017
 |ref         = {{harvid|''The Glasgow Herald'' 28 Oct|1945}}
}}
*{{cite news
 | title = Sir John Boyd Orr, M.P., Elected Rector of Glasgow University
 | newspaper = The Herald
 | location = Glasgow
 | page = 4
 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vEBAAAAAIBAJ&pg=3858%2C2715493
 | date = 22 October 1945
 | ref = {{harvid|''The Glasgow Herald'' 22 Oct|1945}}
 }}
*{{cite journal
 | title = The Agricultural Research Association, the Development Fund, and the Origins of the Rowett Research Institute
 | last = Smith
 | first = David
 | journal = Agricultural History Review
 | year = 1998
 | volume = 46
 | issue = 1
 | pages = 47–63
 | url = http://www.bahs.org.uk/46n1a4.pdf
 | url-status = dead
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927190046/http://www.bahs.org.uk/46n1a4.pdf
 | archive-date = 27 September 2007
 }}
*{{Cite journal | title = To Win the Peace: The Food and Agriculture Organization, Sir John Boyd Orr, and the World Food Board Proposals
 | last = Staples | first = Amy L. S.
 | journal = Peace & Change
 | date = October 2003 | volume = 28 | issue = 4 | pages = 495–523
 | doi = 10.1111/1468-0130.00273
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Birth of Development: How the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization, and World Health Organization Changed the World, 1945-1965
 | last = Staples | first = Amy L. S. | year = 2006
 | publisher = Kent State University Press | location = Kent, OH
 | pages = 78–96
 | isbn = 978-0-87338-849-8
}}
*{{cite news
 |title       = Universities' New M.P. Sir John Orr's Victory
 |work        = [[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Herald]]
 |location    = Glasgow
 |page        = 10
 |url         = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OhA1AAAAIBAJ&pg=3313%2C5550571
 |date        = 14 April 1945
 |access-date = 24 March 2017
 |ref         = {{harvid|''The Glasgow Herald'' 14 Apr|1945}}
}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* Archives
** [[National Library of Scotland]], correspondence and papers
** [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]] [[Public Record Office]] (TNA: PRO), reports on Germany, [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATLN=6&CATID=3348355&SearchInit=4&CATREF=MH79%2F358 MH79/358]
** [[National Archives of Scotland]], correspence with [[Peter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian|Lord Lothian]]
** Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeenshire, corresp. and papers relating to Rowett Research Institute
* Likenesses from the [[National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery]]
** [[Lida Moser]], [http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait.php?search=ss&firstRun=true&sText=Orr&LinkID=mp08505&rNo=0&role=sit photograph], 1949, [[National Portrait Gallery (London)|National Portrait Gallery]] (NPG) [see illus.]
** B. Schotz, bronze head, 1950, Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, Glasgow
** W. Stoneman, [http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait.php?search=ss&firstRun=true&sText=Orr&LinkID=mp08505&rNo=3&role=sit bromide print], 1953, NPG
** [[Elliott & Fry]], [http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait.php?search=ss&firstRun=true&sText=Orr&LinkID=mp08505&rNo=1&role=sit photograph], NPG
** Elliott & Fry, [http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait.php?search=ss&firstRun=true&sText=Orr&LinkID=mp08505&rNo=2&role=sit vintage print], 1942, NPG
** photograph, repro. in Kay, Memoirs FRS
* {{Hansard-contribs | sir-john-boyd-orr | John Boyd Orr}}

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr}}
* {{PM20}}
* {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture, 12 December 1949 ''Science and Peace''

{{s-start}}
{{s-aca}}
{{succession box
 | title=[[Rector of the University of Glasgow]]
 | years=1945–1947
 | before=[[Archibald Sinclair, 1st Viscount Thurso|Sir Archibald Sinclair, Bt]]
 | after=[[Walter Elliot (Scottish politician)|Walter Elliot]]
}}
{{succession box
 | title=[[Chancellor of the University of Glasgow]]
 | before=[[Daniel Macaulay Stevenson|Sir Daniel Macaulay Stevenson]]
 | after=[[Alexander Cairncross (economist)|Sir Alexander Cairncross]]
 | years=1946–1971
}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
 | title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Combined Scottish Universities (UK Parliament constituency)|Combined Scottish Universities]]
 | years = [[1945 Combined Scottish Universities by-election|1945]]–[[1946 Combined Scottish Universities by-election|1946]]
 | with = [[John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley|Sir John Anderson]]
 | with2 = [[Noel Skelton]]
 | before = [[George Alexander Morrison]]
 | before2 = [[John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley|Sir John Anderson]]
 | before3 = [[Archibald Noel Skelton|Noel Skelton]]
 | after = [[Walter Elliot (Scottish politician)|Walter Elliot]]
 | after2 = [[John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley|Sir John Anderson]]
 | after3 = [[Noel Skelton]]
}}
{{s-reg|uk}}
{{s-new | creation}}
{{s-ttl
 | title = [[Baron Boyd-Orr]]
 | years = 1949–1971
}}
{{s-non|reason=Extinct}}
{{s-ach}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac | last = [[Friends Service Council]]<br /> [[American Friends Service Committee]] }}
{{s-ttl | title = [[List of Nobel Peace Prize laureates|Laureate]] of the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] | years = 1949}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Ralph Bunche]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Nobel Peace Prize laureates}}
{{1949 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{World Constitutional Convention call signatories}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd Orr, John}}
[[Category:1880 births]]
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[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Scottish anti-war activists]]
[[Category:World Constitutional Convention call signatories]]