Harry Duncan McGowan, 1st Baron McGowan KBE (3 June 1874 – 13 July 1961) LLD DCL, was a prominent Scottish industrialist who served as Chairman of Imperial Chemical Industries for 20 years.
McGowan was the only son of Henry McGowan Esq. and his wife Agnes (née Wilson). He was educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School, an independent school in Glasgow and Allan Glen's School. He joined the Nobel Explosives Company, the company founded by Alfred Nobel, as an executive officer. In 1918 he became Chairman and Managing Director of Explosives Trade Ltd (from 1920 known as Nobel Industries Ltd), a position he held until the formation of ICI.
In 1926 Nobel Industries merged with Brunner Mond, the United Alkali Company and the British Dyestuffs Corporation to form Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). The merger, orchestrated by Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett and McGowan, created one of the world's largest industrial corporations at the time.[2][3] McGowan succeeded Lord Melchett as Chairman and Managing Director in 1930 and remained Chairman until 1950. McGowan was appointed a KBE in the 1918 Birthday Honours and on 24 February 1937 he was raised to the peerage as Baron McGowan, of Ardeer in the County of Ayr, following the 1937 New Year Honours.[4]
Lord McGowan married Jean, daughter of William Young, in 1903. They had two sons and two daughters. He died in July 1961, aged 87, and was succeeded in the barony by his elder son Harry.
McGowan's emergence as a man of considerable wealth through his purchase of £5 million worth of stock in an American car manufacturer was satirised by Neil Munro in his Erchie MacPherson story "Our Mystery Millionaire", first published in the Glasgow Evening News of 17th May 1920.[6]