Cowdray, Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st Viscount

Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, in full Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray of Midhurst, also called (1910–17) Baron Cowdray of Midhurst, (born July 15, 1856, Shelley Woodhouse, Yorkshire, England—died May 1, 1927, Dunecht House, Aberdeen, Scotland), British engineer and a developer of the Mexican petroleum industry.

At age 19 Pearson became a partner in his family’s contracting firm, the operation of which he extended to Spain and the United States. In December 1889 he went to Mexico, where he drained swamps; built railways, power lines, waterworks, and harbours; and acquired much oil-rich land. He began drilling to obtain fuel for his locomotives and, in the first two decades of the 20th century, secured control of the Mexican oil industry. His firm built the Blackwall Tunnel under the Thames River, London, and several railroad tunnels under the East River, New York City; enlarged the Dover (England) harbour; and in 1926 completed a large dam on the Blue Nile in Sudan.

Pearson was elected to Parliament in 1895 and remained a member for 15 years. He was created a baron in 1910 and viscount in 1917.