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For Beryl Platt, later Baroness Platt of Writtle, the key event happened during the Second World War. Having excelled at maths in her studies at Westcliff High School in Southend, she had overcome resistance from her parents to convince them that she should follow the recommendation of her headmistress, who said she should study the subject at the University of Cambridge.
She was all set to do so when, in the summer of 1941, the government announced a state bursary for engineering undergraduates to support the war effort. Instead of mathematics, she changed to study aeronautical engineering, one of the first women to do so and one of only five women among 250 men doing mechanical sciences at Cambridge.
The shift in direction set up a long and fruitful career, starting in engineering before moving into politics and campaigning, helping ensure other women could take a similar path.
Take-off
Born Beryl Catherine Myatt in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, on 18 April 1923, she was the daughter of Ernest Myatt and Dorothy Wood. After her successful school career and university studies, she graduated with a ‘title of degree’ in 1943, as Cambridge did not award degrees to women until 1948.
Her first appointment was in the experimental flight test department at Hawker Aircraft in Langley, Berkshire, where she worked with Hurricane designer Sydney Camm on the fighter, as well as the Typhoon and Tempest. Despite his offer of a permanent role after the war, she left in 1946 to join the R&D department of the new British European Airways, where she was mostly focused on the safety of passenger aircraft.
She moved to Writtle in Essex with her husband Stewart and young son Roland in 1953, and gave birth to her daughter Vicky later that year. Several years later she decided to pursue a career in local government, going from Chelmsford Rural District Council in 1958 to Essex County Council (ECC) in 1965. She was chairman of the education committee between 1971 and 1980, and rose to become ECC vice-chairman between 1980 and 1983.
Margaret Thatcher made her a life peer in 1981, and she remained a Conservative member of the House of Lords until her death on 1 February 2015. In May 1983 she was appointed chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission, and a year later she co-founded Wise (Women into Science and Engineering), which campaigns for gender balance and inclusivity in STEM workplaces.
Baroness Platt was also a member of the House of Lords select committee on science and technology, serving four terms between 1982 and 2007, and she was vice-president of the parliamentary scientific committee from 1996 to 2000.
She served on the bodies and committees of many other organisations, including the Association for Science Education, and was chancellor of Middlesex University. She had honorary degrees from many universities, fellowships at Manchester Polytechnic and the Royal Society of Arts, and honorary fellowships from several other organisations – including the IMechE.
Vital success
Described as a “powerful advocate” for equality in STEM by former Wise chief executive Helen Wollaston, Baroness Platt’s beliefs and motivations are still very relevant today. Although there has been some progress in recent years – women now make up 16.5% of the engineering workforce, according to EngineeringUK, up from 10.5% in 2010 – much more needs to be done.
“Our quality of life and the success of our economy depend on these vital skills, so we must persevere with encouraging over 50% of the population – girls – to enter SET (science, engineering and technology) in the future,” she wrote when Wise celebrated its 20th anniversary. “For Wise to achieve the success so vital to our nation, we need that support to continue with the same enthusiasm in the future.”
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