John Mathieson

For the man whose identity he assumed, see P.T. Westmorland.

John Mathieson
Biographical information
Full name:	John Patrick Mathieson
Birthplace:	Texas, United States
Birthdate:	1939
Status:	Deceased
Manner of Death:	Shot and blunt force trauma by Sarah Manning
Died:	2014
Age:	75
Residence:	Revival
Other information
Also known as:	P.T. Westmorland (assumed identity)
Gender:	Male
Eye color:	Blue
Relationships
Family:	William Mathieson (father) Annabelle Mathieson (mother)
Series information
Portrayed by:	Stephen McHattie
Season/s:	5
First appearance:	"Clutch of Greed"
Latest appearance:	"To Right the Wrongs of Many"

"Though neolution science and my own genetics, I have lived a very long life. "

—John to Cosima

John Patrick Mathieson was the leader of Revival and a fraudster who assumed the identity of P.T. Westmorland. He is the overarching antagonist of the series. As a student at the University of Cambridge, he had a role in reviving the neolution philosophy during the 1960s.

Biography

John Mathieson was born in 1939 in Texas to William Mathieson, an oil tycoon, and Annabelle Mathieson.

Mathieson's obituary. ("Gag or Throttle")

He came from a very privileged background. In the 1960s, he became a student at the University of Cambridge, where he'd become acquainted with Susan Duncan and Virginia Coady. Together, they revived the 19th century neolution ideology of P.T. Westmorland. In 1967, he faked his death by sailing, making it look as if he vanished at sea. This was the first step in a several decade long plan for him to assume the identity of the neolution founder.

Season 5

TBA

Trivia

• In order to appear convincing, Mathieson faked several details about P.T. Westmorland's life upon assuming his identity, even faking an apparent friendship with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and forging photographs of himself with the poet.
• Mathieson seemed to enjoy the works of Richard Wagner. His own personal anthem at Revival was that of Wagner's Tannhäuser overture.
  • The use of Wagner's music by Mathieson in Orphan Black is perhaps a reference to the composer's own personal views and the later appropriation of his works by the likes of Houston Stewart Chamberlain and later Adolf Hitler.