[1] He was born at Glasgow, Scotland, the son of John Weir and his wife Jeannie (née Kerr)[1] and migrated with his family to Australia the following year.

Weir died in September 1929 and his funeral proceeded from his former residence in Alice Street to the Maryborough Cemetery.

[4] Weir, a member of the Labour Party, served as an alderman on the Maryborough City Council for one term.

Following the resignation of Alfred Jones the sitting member for Maryborough to join the Queensland Legislative Council, Weir won the resulting by-election in 1917.

He beat the National candidate, Mr Harding, and in fact increased the Labour vote from the previous state election.