Institution of Engineers in Scotland

Institution of Engineers in Scotland
Established	1 May 1857
Type	Engineering and Shipbuilding professional association
Headquarters	Fyfe Chambers, 105 West George Street, Glasgow, Scotland, G2 1QL
Region served	Scotland
Services	open lectures, social events, annual James Watt Dinner
Key people	Graeme Fletcher (President); Dr Malcolm Robb FIES (Vice President);
Website	engineers.scot

The Institution of Engineers in Scotland (IES) is a multi-disciplinary professional body and learned society, founded in Scotland, for professional engineers in all disciplines and for those associated with or taking an interest in their work. Its main activities are an annual series of evening talks on engineering, open to all, and a range of school events aimed at encouraging young people to consider engineering careers. Between 1870 and 2020 the institution was known as the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland (IESIS).

IES is registered as a Scottish Charity, No SC011583 and is the fourth oldest, still-active, registered Company in Scotland.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Members, Fellows, Graduates or Companions are entitled to use the abbreviated distinctive letters after their name - MIES, FIES, GIES, CIES.

Foundation

The inaugural meeting of the Institution of Engineers in Scotland was held on 1 May 1857. Office bearers were appointed and the principal objective of the new institution was set down as "the encouragement and advancement of Engineering Science and Practice". It was to have a broad basis for membership, and engineers from the mining, foundry, railway, iron, shipbuilding and other industries were to be eligible. The prime movers behind the founding of the Institution were William John Macquorn Rankine, Regius Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Glasgow, and Walter Montgomerie Neilson, one of the major figures in establishing Glasgow's locomotive-building industry. Rankine was the first President of the Institution and Neilson succeeded him in 1859. The engineer James Howden, who died in 1913, was the last surviving founding member of the Institution.^[5]

The Institution was an early promoter of consciousness of industrial effects on the environment. In those early years there was a pervading atmosphere of enquiry into the applications of steam power. In 1858 the Institution was responsible for a public meeting, held in the Glasgow City Chambers, to establish "An Association for Promoting Safety, Economy and Absence of Smoke in the raising and use of Steam".

The Scottish Shipbuilders Association had been formed in 1860 and amalgamated with the Institution of Engineers in Scotland on 25 October 1865. The name Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland was adopted in 1870. The first female President of the Institution, Karen Dinardo, took office on 4 October 2016, at the start of a two-year term. Her father, Carlo Dinardo, had been president in 1999–2001.

The Institution has had a number of headquarters. The building at 39 Elmbank Crescent, Glasgow was commissioned and built in 1906–08 and was designed by J.B. Wilson. In the foyer of this building, there is a memorial to the 36 engineers who died on RMS Titanic. The marble and bronze memorial was subscribed by members, designed by the sculptor William Kellock Brown, and unveiled on 15 April 1914. The Institution, with the permission of Scottish Opera, current occupiers of the building, organised a memorial service in the building on 14 April 2012.^[6]

Current name

In 2020, the Institution reverted its name to the Institution of Engineers in Scotland, reflecting the breadth of engineering disciplines among its membership and practised throughout Scotland.^[7]

Lectures

In addition to an annual programme of evening talks on various engineering topics, the Institution endows two prestige lectures:

The annual MacMillan Memorial Lecture established in 1959 in memory of Hugh Miller MacMillan, a prominent shipbuilding Engineer in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland.^[8]^[9]
The biennial Marlow (Scotland) Lecture established in 1964.

Both have attracted high-profile speakers.^{[citation needed]}

Digitisation programme

IES has a significant collection of engineering papers and other materials in its archives. Since 2013, there has been a programme to digitise all Transactions of the Institution from its earliest days so that these may be made available as a reference resource.^[10]

Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame

In 2011, IES launched a new initiative, The Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame,^[11] to celebrate Scotland's tradition of engineering and shipbuilding. It provides role models for young people considering careers in engineering.

The first seven inductees were announced by President Gordon Masterton at the Institution's annual James Watt Dinner in September 2011. As of 2024, there have been 60 names added to the Hall of Fame, 14 of whom were living inductees (in alphabetical order): Douglas Anderson (retinal imaging), Thomas Graham Brown (ultrasound scanner), Craig Clark (satellite engineer), James Goodfellow (automated teller machine), Hugh Gill (bionic hand), Naeem Hussain (bridge engineer), Carol Marsh (electronics engineer), Gordon McConnell (aircraft engineer), Sir Jim McDonald (electrical power engineer and University leader), Sir Duncan Michael (structural engineer and business leader), Sir Donald Miller (electrical power engineer and business leader), David Milne (electronics pioneer and business leader), Ian Ritchie (computing engineer and business leader), Stephen Salter (wave power pioneer).

To date there have been six female inductees, Dorothée Pullinger, Anne Gillespie Shaw, Victoria Drummond, Mary Fergusson, Anne Neville and Carol Marsh.

The Hall of Fame panel encourages nominations from the public as well as members.

Presidents

The following is a list of the presidents of the Institution since its inception:.^[12]

1857-59 William John Macquorn Rankine, LLD, FRSE, FRS, Regius Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, University of Glasgow
1859-61 Walter Montgomerie Neilson, Hyde Park Locomotive Works, Glasgow
1861-63 William Johnstone, Resident Engineer, Glasgow and South Western Railway, Glasgow
1863-65 James Robert Napier, Engineer and Shipbuilder Glasgow
1865-67 James Gray Lawrie, Engineer and Shipbuilder, Glasgow
1867-69 James Morris Gale, Engineer, Glasgow Corporation Water Works
1869-70 William John Macquorn Rankine, LLD, FRSE, FRS, Regius Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, University of Glasgow^{[note 1]}
1870-72 David Rowan, Marine Engineer, Glasgow
1872-74 Robert Duncan, Shipbuilder, Port Glasgow
1874-76 Hazelton Robson, Marine Engineer, Glasgow
1876-78 Robert Bruce Bell, Civil Engineer, Glasgow
1878-80 Robert Mansel, Shipbuilder, Glasgow
1880-82 John Lennox Kincaid Jamieson, Marine Engineer, Glasgow
1882-84 James Reid, Hyde Park Locomotive Works, Glasgow
1884-86 James Thomson, LLD, FRS, Regius Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, University of Glasgow
1886-87 William Denny, Shipbuilder, Dumbarton^[13]
1887-89 Alexander Carnegie Kirk, LLD, Marine Engineer, Glasgow
1889-91 Ebenezer Kemp, Marine Engineer, Glasgow
1891-93 Robert Dundas, Resident Engineer, Southern Division, Caledonian Railway, Glasgow
1893-95 John Inglis, LLD, Engineer and Shipbuilder, Glasgow
1895-97 Sir William Arrol, LLD, MP, Engineer and Bridge Builder, Glasgow
1897-99 George Russell, Mechanical Engineer, Motherwell
1899-01 Robert Caird, LLD, FRSE, Shipbuilder, Greenock
1901-03 William Foults, Engineer, Glasgow Corporation Gas Works
1903-05 Sir Archibald Denny, Bt., LLD, Shipbuilder, Dumbarton
1905-07 James Gilchrist, Marine Engineer, Glasgow
1907-09 John Ward, Shipbuilder, Glasgow
1909-10 Charles Pullar Hogg, Civil Engineer, Glasgow
1910-11 Archibald Barr, LLD, DSc, Regius Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, University of Glasgow
1911-13 Ebenezer Hall-Brown, Marine Engineer, Glasgow
1913-15 Robert Thomas Moore, DSc, Civil and Mining Engineer, Glasgow
1915-17 William Walker Lackie, CBE, Engineer and Manager, Glasgow Corporation Electricity Works
1917-19 Alexander Cleghorn, FRSE, Marine Engineer, Glasgow
1919-21 Thomas Blackwood Murray, DSc, Automobile Engineer, Glasgow
1921-23 Harold Edgar Yarrow, CBE, Shipbuilder, Glasgow
1923-25 James Howden Hume, Marine Engineer, Glasgow
1925-27 Archibald Jack Campbell, Shipbuilder, Dalmuir
1927-29 Ralph David Moore, BSc, Steel Founder, Glasgow
1929-31 Colonel Sir James Lithgow, Bt., MC, DL, Shipbuilder, Port Glasgow
1931-33 Archibald Gilchrist, OBE, Marine Engineer, Glasgow
1933-35 John Dewar Cormack, CMG, CBE, DSc, Regius Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, University of Glasgow
1935-37 Percy Archibald Hillhouse, DSc, John Elder Professor of Naval Architecture, University of Glasgow
1937-39 Alfred Charles Gardner, FRSE, Engineer, Clyde Navigation Trust, Glasgow
1939-41 Wilfrid Ayre, Shipbuilder, Burntisland
1941-43 Frederick Charles Stewart, Engineer, Glasgow
1943-45 A. Murray Stephen, MC, BA, Shipbuilder, Glasgow
1945-47 Allan Stevenson, CBE, Marine Engineer, Glasgow
1947-49 James M. McNeill, MC, LLD, Naval Architect, Clydebank
1949-51 Gilbert Cook, DSc, FRS, Regius Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, University of Glasgow
1951-52 Sir Andrew McCance, DL, DSc, LLD, FRS, Metallurgist, Glasgow
1952-54 Sir William Wallace, CBE, FRSE, Mechanical Engineer, Edinburgh
1954-56 Andrew McCance Robb, DSc, John Elder Professor of Naval Architecture, University of Glasgow
1956-57 Sir Harold E. Yarrow, Bt., CBE, LLD, Engineer and Shipbuilder, Glasgow
1957-59 James Small, DSc, PhD, James Watt Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Glasgow
1959-61 John Brown, BSc, Naval Architect, Clydebank
1961-63 Iain Maxwell Stewart, BSc, Engineer, Glasgow
1963-65 Adam Simpson Turnbull Thomson, DSc, PhD, FRSE, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Royal College of Science and Technology, Glasgow
1965-67 James Lenaghan, CBE, Shipbuilder, Glasgow
1967-69 William Proudfoot Walker, Naval Architect, Edinburgh
1969-71 Sir John William Atwell, CBE, MSc, FRSE, Engineer, Glasgow
1973-73 William M. Cormie, CBE, BSc, Civil Engineer, Glasgow
1973-75 J. Burton Davies, BSc, CEng, Naval Architect, Glasgow
1975-77 A.W. Scott, CBE, PhD, BSc, CEng
1977-79 William George Nicholson Geddes, CBE, BSc, FEng, FRSE, Civil Engineer, Glasgow
1979-81 B.N. Baxter, MSc, PhD, CEng, Naval Architect, Glasgow
1981-83 J.A. Turner, BSc, CEng, Mechanical Engineer, Clydebank
1983-85 Alexander M.M. Stephen, BA, CEng, Shipbuilder, Glasgow
1985-87 John Rorke, CBE, BSc, PhD, FRSE, CEng
1987-89 Thomas O. Leith, OBE, BSc, CEng, Mechanical Engineer, Glasgow
1989-91 H.C. Simpson, BSc, ScD, FRSE, Professor
1991-93 I.C. Broadley, BSc, CEng, FInstE, Mechanical Engineer, Glasgow
1993-95 J. Neumann, CBE, FEng, Mechanical Engineer, Glasgow
1995-97 Douglas Faulkner, Wh.Sc., RCNC, PhD, DSc, FREng, John Elder Professor of Naval Architecture, Glasgow
1997-99 Sir Robert Easton, CBE, DUniv, Shipbuilder, Glasgow
1999-01 Carlo Dinardo, CEng, Civil Engineer, Paisley
2001-01 Dan Kirkwood, BSc(Hons), PhD, CEng, Professor of Metallurgy, Glasgow^{[note 2]}
2001-04 Anthony Slaven, MA, BLitt, FRHistS, Professor of History, Glasgow
2004-06 Crawford F. Gorrie, CEng, Engineer, Glasgow
2006-08 Ernest Chambers, BSc, Civil Engineer, Glasgow
2008-10 David K. Harrison, MEng, PhD, Professor of Engineering, Glasgow Caledonian University
2010-12 Gordon Grier Thomson Masterton, OBE, Hon.D.Eng, Hon.D.Tech, BA, MSc, FREng, FRSE, Civil Engineer, Glasgow
2012-14 Iain MacLeod, BSc, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Structural Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
2014-16 Philip Preston, BSc, CEng, MICE, Civil Engineer, Glasgow
2016-18 Karen Dinardo, BSc, CEng, MIStructE, MICE, Civil Engineer, Paisley
2018-20 David Westmore, BSc, CEng, MRINA, Naval Architect, Paisley

2020-22 Andy Pearson, BSc, PhD, CEng, Refrigeration Engineer, Glasgow
2022-24 Dick Philbrick, BSc, MSc, Naval Architect & Mechanical Engineer, Glasgow
2024-26 Graeme Fletcher, BS, Naval Engineer, Paisley.

Notes

^ John Elder, Shipbuilder, Glasgow, was elected for session 1869-70, but died before taking office
^ Resigned

References

^ "Council / Office Bearers". Institution of Engineers in Scotland. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
^ "Wikispaces". oldestscottishcompanies.wikispaces.com.
^ "University of Glasgow - MyGlasgow - Archive Services - BACS - Scotland's Hundred Oldest Companies". gla.ac.uk.
^ "Wikispaces". oldestscottishcompanies.wikispaces.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
^ Day, Lance and McNeil, Ian, Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology, Vol. 39, London, Routledge, 1988, p. 358, at Biographical Dictionary, books.google.com, accessed 27 September 2009
^ The Scotsman, 11 April 2012: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/features/the-scots-engineers-who-fought-to-the-last-to-save-the-titanic-1-2226407
^ "A complete history of the institution". Institution of Engineers in Scotland. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
^ "MacMillan Lectures".
^ "Bonhams : A George III carved giltwood pier glass circa 1760".
^ "Transactions". IESIS. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
^ "Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame". engineeringhalloffame.org. 2012. Archived from the original on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
^ "Past Presidents of IESIS". iesis.org. 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
^ "William Denny III". Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2012.

External links

[13] John Elder, Shipbuilder, Glasgow, was elected for session 1869-70, but died before taking office

[15] Resigned

[office-1] "Council / Office Bearers". Institution of Engineers in Scotland. Retrieved 20 August 2024.

[2] "Wikispaces". oldestscottishcompanies.wikispaces.com.

[3] "University of Glasgow - MyGlasgow - Archive Services - BACS - Scotland's Hundred Oldest Companies". gla.ac.uk.

[4] "Wikispaces". oldestscottishcompanies.wikispaces.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2019.

[5] Day, Lance and McNeil, Ian, Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology, Vol. 39, London, Routledge, 1988, p. 358, at Biographical Dictionary, books.google.com, accessed 27 September 2009

[6] The Scotsman, 11 April 2012: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/features/the-scots-engineers-who-fought-to-the-last-to-save-the-titanic-1-2226407

[complete-7] "A complete history of the institution". Institution of Engineers in Scotland. Retrieved 20 August 2024.

[8] "MacMillan Lectures".

[9] "Bonhams : A George III carved giltwood pier glass circa 1760".

[10] "Transactions". IESIS. Retrieved 15 October 2017.

[11] "Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame". engineeringhalloffame.org. 2012. Archived from the original on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2012.

[12] "Past Presidents of IESIS". iesis.org. 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2012.

[14] "William Denny III". Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2012.

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