Magnificent Women in Engineering
This website is dedicated to the magnificent women in engineering from the past 100 years.
It draws together stories of our inspirational women from UK engineering history, and compiles a resource that can be used by anybody wanting to learn more about the history of women engineers.
It draws together stories of our inspirational women from UK engineering history, and compiles a resource that can be used by anybody wanting to learn more about the history of women engineers.
NEWS
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Electric Dreams 2024 - a Festival of Womanpower
You are invited to take part in Electric Dreams, a Festival of Womanpower to mark the centenary of the Electrical Association for Women (EAW), founded on 12 November 1924. More details here. Plans are taking shape for a conference at the IET in London on 12 November, including a Public Lecture given by Baroness Brown of Cambridge. Also in November, an exhibition will take place at the Stradling Collection in Bristol to celebrate the All Electric House.
Blue Plaque Approval for the All Electric House, Bristol
Approval has been received for a blue plaque for the All Electric House in Stoke Bishop, Bristol, and funding is now being sought from a local company, ideally, to facilitate the manufacture and installation of the plaque. Please read more, and get in touch if you are interested in getting involved. Teatowels Have Arrived!
Due to a number of recent requests, the EAW teatowels have been reprinted and are available for purchase. See details about their history, and buy them here. Engineer of the Week (EOTW) Series Complete
The 127 blogs that have been featured over the course of 2019 to celebrate the centenary of WES and the past 100 years of women in engineering are now complete, and can all be seen here. Huge thanks to Nina Baker for producing these blogs. The full list of all 127 engineers featured is here. Timeline Banners
A number of timeline banners celebrating 100 years of women in engineering can be seen here.
Blue Plaque erected for Hilda Lyon
Market Weighton commemorated aeronautics engineer Hilda M Lyon with a blue plaque in 2019. See the blue plaques of other women in engineering and related disciplines here. 
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SouthEastern Train Named after Verena Holmes
Friday the 23rd of June 2023 saw the Southeastern Rail Company name a train ‘Verena Holmes', after the very first female member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers as well as the Society of Locomotion Engineers back in 1889....Read more here And Verena Holmes will be celebrated further through a Blue Plaque, to be unveiled on 24th June 2024 in Kent. Details to follow. The Stradling Collection, Bristol
October – November 2024 To commemorate the centenary of the formation of the Electrical Association for Women (EAW) in 2024, the Stradling Collection in Bristol is hosting an Exhibition to showcase Bristol’s All Electric House, a modernist domestic house built in 1935 which still stands today in Stoke Bishop. The house reflected the aims of the Electrical Association for Women which was to encourage modern women to use electricity and electrical appliances in the home, in order to ‘escape the drudgery of everyday tasks’, thus freeing up their time for more independence, and the ability to enter the workforce. Details here. 
Historical Women celebrated
Ayrton Fund: A £1 billion fund was announced by the British Government to tackle climate change, named after Magnificent Woman Hertha Ayrton. Hertha Ayrton was an engineer, physicist, mathematician and inventor, a pioneer in the application of science to practical engineering problems and was one of the first women to work in electrical engineering in the UK. Read more about Hertha Ayrton here, and the Ayrton Fund here. Other Buildings Named after Magnificent Women:
Top 100 Historical Women in Engineering
To celebrate the centenary of the Women's Engineering Society, a list of 100 Historical women in Engineering has been launched. See the list here. Electrifying Women has been a University of Leeds project that explores the history of women in engineering in the 19th and 20th century. A fascinating set of resources has been produced.
Magnificent Women and Their Revolutionary Machines - book published
We are very excited to report that this fantastic book by Henrietta Heald, outlining the early history of the Women's Engineering Society and the lives of the main characters, has now been published and is available to purchase through all good bookshops, and online. Available in paperback too. 
WES Centenary Trail
Congratulations to the Women's Engineering Society on reaching their centenary on 23 June 2019. WES has launched a Centenary Map to showcase the historical women engineers of the past 100 years through new and revised Wikipedia entries. Further details here. 
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Top 100 Historical Women in Engineering
The Top 100 Historical Women in Engineering List was published in 2019 to coincide with the centenary of the Women's Engineering Society. This list of influential UK based women engineers, who were alive between 1919 and the present day, is available here.
Top 50 Women in Engineering
50 Women in Engineering Slideshow (2016)
In 2016 the Women's Engineering Society first published the inaugural list of Top 50 women in engineering, and since then 50 more have been released every year. Find out who they are here.
Follow us on Social Media
Follow Magnificent Women and the WES Centenary on Twitter at:
@magnificentwom @WESCentenary @wes1919 Pinterest
Check out the many images of women in engineering history on the pinterest site here.
Women's Trails at Museums
Women's trails at science and technology museums are a way of inspiring the next generation of young women through the stories of the past. As part of International Women in Engineering Day 2018, a number of museums rose to the challenge of producing Women's trails. See more here.
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Magnificent Women Engineers
Amy Johnson, Tilly Shilling, Hertha Ayrton, Rachel Parsons, Caroline Haslett and many more. Find out more about the pioneering women engineers of our past through the resource sheets and links here.
Outreach Activity
Magnificent Women and Their Flying Machines is a fun and educational outreach activity and resource for schools and other organisations to explore the role of women in engineering, both now and in the past. It was developed by the Women's Engineering Society in 2014 and has been delivered to thousands of children since that time. It is now being delivered by the EDT, the Engineering Development Trust.
It is based on the work that women did during the First World War in engineering and technical professions, and includes a look back at the history of women in engineering and their role as engineers today. 
Secret Spitfires
Secret Spitfires is the story of hundreds of women, girls and a handful of men who built Spitfires in secret during WW2. Released on 1 July 2018 to coincide with RAF100 Day, this is the true story of ordinary people doing extraordinary acts. Read the story here.
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Engineer of the Week (EOTW)Throughout 2019 we will be releasing stories of our historical engineers on dates which celebrate their life, death, or significant achievements.
Read the stories of these women as they unfold here. Timeline of Events
See the timeline of important events here. Magnificent Women and their Revolutionary MachinesThis new book by Henrietta Heald, published by Unbound, will be available in September 2019.
Magnificent Women and their Revolutionary Machines explores one of the fascinating untold dramas of the 20th century – the true story of Britain’s early women engineers and their success in fanning the flames of a social revolution, as well as their achievements in science and technology. Elegantly written by acclaimed biographer Henrietta Heald, and beautifully illustrated with black-and-white archive photographs, Magnificent Women makes a fitting centenary tribute to a group of extraordinary female pioneers. |
Photo Gallery
Images from the WES archive reproduced courtesy of WES and the IET Archive here.