Between the lines: The lives of engineering pioneers

Combing through the IMechE’s membership records reveals fascinating stories about the heroes of the past, writes the institution’s archivist Karyn French

The membership records for the IMechE for the years 1847 to 1930 are online via Ancestry. Members can gain free access using their ‘my account’ login details. Non-members can use their Ancestry login or, if you don’t have one, please contact us to make an enquiry about an historic engineer.

Alongside IMechE online records are some for the Institution of Automobile Engineers (1906-30) and all those for the Institution of Locomotive Engineers (1915-30). Both those organisations amalgamated with the IMechE. The records offer great insights on the careers and accomplishments of many famous engineering pioneers, including one of the foremost designers of the internal combustion engine, Harry Ricardo, and the inventor of the early sniper rifle, Sir Joseph Whitworth. The people applying for membership formed the bedrock of the profession across all sectors, including manufacturing, railways and power engineering.

Membership proposal forms give career and educational history, as well as details of the applicant’s main engineering achievements. Several trends can be spotted – many trained as apprentices, or worked across the world, especially in the British Empire. If you search for women, you’ll find that the first at the IMechE was in 1924, and that the automobile institution had the most diverse membership and admitted women after the First World War.

Here are some famous names:

• Sir Henry Royce, co-founder of Rolls-Royce
• Sir Nigel Gresley, designer in the 1930s of the Mallard locomotive, which still holds the land steam record
• Thomas Andrews, chief naval architect of the SS Titanic
• Frederick Lanchester, who designed and built the first English car
• Charles William Siemens, founder of Siemens Brothers
• Verena Holmes, first female member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (1924).

A selection of some of our most famous members’ forms are free to all on our Virtual Archive.

If you are interested in an engineer who applied for membership after 1930, please contact us.

Archives, Institution of Mechanical Engineering

Images credit: Institution of Mechanical Engineering