William Tweedy was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland, England on 5 July 1872. He was articled to William Henry Knowles (1857-1943) from 1887 to 1892 and remained as his assistant to 1899. He also studied architecture at the Northern Architectural Association Schools. He commenced practice as an architect in 1899 in partnership with Charles Thomas Marshall (1867-1940) in the Newcastle-upon-Tyne-based architectural practice Marshall & Tweedy.
In the late 1920s a branch of the firm was opened in London, run by Charles Beresford Marshall.
By the mid-1930s, Charles Thomas Marshall appears to have reduced his involvement in the practice and his son, and John Alexander Bourn (1886-1948) and Lionel Hugo Fewster (1904-1957) had become partners in the firm. In The London Gazette of 16 March 1937 it was announced the the partnership had been dissolved as of 1 August 1936, and that in future the business would be split into two distinct practices - Marshall, Tweedy & Bourn, run by Tweedy and Bourn, and Marshall & Tweedy, run by Charles Beresford Marshall and Fewster.
Tweedy was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA) in 1910 and admitted a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1925. He died in Northumberland in 1951.
Milburn House, Newcastle (block of offices) for Messrs. Wm. Milburn and Co., Ltd.; Akenside House, Newcastle (block of offices): Messrs. Fenwick, Ltd. (large draper's premises). Schools: — Greencroft, Wallsend, Walker Gate, Whitley Bay. Churches: — St. Paul's, Howden; St. John's, Monkseaton - Trinity Church, Newcastle: West Moor, near Forest Hail; South Gosforth, Newcastle; and many others. Many large stores and business premises in Newcastle and district. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1926]
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
Who's Who in Architecture 1926. Edited by Frank Chatterton. London: Architectural Press, 1926