Top 100 Women in Engineering

Top 100 (Historical) Women in Engineering List Launched

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Over the last 100 years women have been working as engineers, technicians, electricians, motor mechanics, construction workers, pilots, machine shop operatives, draughtswomen ... and every other type of engineer you can think of. In 1919 an organisation called the Women's Engineering Society was established to support these women, and in 2019 the 100 Years of Women in Engineering campaign is celebrating the many women who excelled – often against the odds – in these professions which often deliberately excluded women. The 100 Years of Women in Engineering campaign has identified the top 100 women engineers who have been influential in the UK in all engineering fields, who lived at some time between 1919 and 2019, and who are no longer with us.
The list includes founders of the Women’s Engineering Society such as Rachel Parsons and Laura Annie Willson MBE, and its first secretary, Caroline Haslett DBE, as well as presidents of the society, including the pilot and engineer Amy Johnson and the founder of the Electrical Association for Women, Mabel Matthews. It includes well-known women from the Second World War period such as Tilly Shilling, who developed the valve that prevented Merlin engines stalling when diving; and Hilda Lyon, who developed the ‘Lyon Shape’ used for the airship R101.
In the words of judge Nina Baker, who was part of a recent heritage project to erect a blue plaque to commemorate the life of Hilda Lyon in Market Weighton, “It would be lovely if local heritage groups could pick up some of these women and celebrate their lives through the Heritage Blue Plaque scheme in the same way as Hilda Lyon and Laura Annie Willson have been commemorated during the past year.”
The list also includes groups of women, including the unnamed construction workers who rebuilt Waterloo Bridge during the Second World War, also known as the Ladies' Bridge, which opened in 1945, and the women of Bletchley Park whose stories are coming to light at the moment.
Among more recent examples are Baroness Platt of Writtle, who has been a champion of Women in Science and Engineering, and whose work contributed to the establishment of the WISE campaign in 1982; and Elizabeth Killick, the first female fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, who died in August 2019.
The list coincides with publication of a book charting the early years of the Women’s Engineering Society. Magnificent Women and their Revolutionary Machines by Henrietta Heald tells the stories of these pioneering women and their influence on the engineering landscape during a discouraging time for women in this male-dominated profession, when – in spite of their tremendous work in munitions factories during the First World War – a successful attempt was made to outlaw the employment of female engineers.
Prominent physicist Jess Wade describes ‘Magnificent Women’ as a "remarkable tribute to the pioneers who paved the way for modern Britain", serving as a reminder of "how far women have come, and a source of inspiration for how far we still need to go".
According to Dawn Bonfield, chair of the panel that chose the 100 Women, and Past President of the Women’s Engineering Society:
“It has been inspiring to learn more about these magnificent women who were pioneers in their field and had to contend with not only a legal system which prevented their participation, but an engineering profession which made it very difficult for women to succeed in the workplace. Despite these hostile conditions, many women did thrive, and that makes their stories even more compelling. Thankfully our profession has changed enormously in the past 100 years, and we can celebrate our progress through learning more about the achievements of our predecessors.”
The stories of women from our science and engineering history are slowly emerging and being added to Wikipedia and other websites such as the Magnificent Women website, in an attempt to reclaim our engineering heritage, and use these inspiring stories to encourage future generations, where the percentage of women in engineering is still only 12%. The majority of these women on the list now have an online presence, but there is still much more work to do.
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The List

Adelaide Anderson (1863-1936): The very first of the Lady Factory Inspectors, Dame Adelaide Anderson became the chief inspector and one of the best known and had close connections with the Women’s Engineering Society at its outset in the final years of her own career.
Annette Ashberry (1894-1990): A British engineer, gardener and author, and the first woman elected to the Society of Engineers.
Hertha Ayrton (1854-1923): Electrical engineer, physicist, mathematician & inventor. Researched electric arcs. Invented trench gas-clearing fan in WW1, and was awarded the Hughes Medal by the Royal Society in 1906.
Marjorie Bell (1906-2001): Electrical engineer, HM factory inspector and product safety consultant. First woman to chair a BSI technical standards committee. WES president 1956.
Cleone de Heveningham Benest (1880-1963): Pioneer motorist and record holder, ‘Gyrotillage executive’, engineer, entrepreneur, suffragette and metallurgist. Eccentric Miss Benest was also known as Miss Griff for unknown reasons.
Lilian Bland (1878-1971): Anglo-Irish journalist and pioneer aviator who, in 1910–11, became one of the first women in the British Isles, and maybe even in the world, to design, build, and fly an aircraft – the Bland Mayfly.
Bletchley Park Women (1940c): During the Second World War up to 8000 women worked at the code breaking facility Bletchley Park in a number of technical roles.
Frances Bradfield (1895-1967): The first of the post-WW1 women to be recruited to Royal Aircraft Establishment, she rose to become Head of Small Wind Tunnels, wrote 130 reports on wind tunnel techniques and aerodynamics. First female recipient of the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Bronze Medal.
Dorothy Donaldson Buchanan (1899-1985): Scottish civil engineer. First female member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Worked on design of Sydney harbour, Tyne and Lambeth bridges, for Dorman Longs and later on waterworks for Pearsons.
Frida Bull (Mrs Dunlop) (1900-1986): Started her engineering career at Arrol Johnston’s Tongland factory in Scotland which was set up as a WW1 munitions factory and university for women engineers. Then trained as a metallurgist and worked in her family’s foundry, Bull &Co, Glasgow
Anne Burns (1915-2001): Pioneering aeronautical engineer at the Royal Aircraft Establishment where she introduced the use of strain gauges for in-flight stress testing. This helped solve the problem of the many fatal crashes of the Comet airliner. She became world expert in clear air turbulence.
Henrietta Bussell (1917-1996): The UK’s first female railway engineer, she became one of the senior tunnels & bridges engineers for British Rail Western Region.
Marjem Chatterton (1917c-2010): First female fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers, designer of Zimbabwe’s first skyscrapers.
Letitia Chitty (1897-1982): Royal Aircraft Establishment mathematician & engineering, analysing stresses of airframes. Imperial college academic working on ships & civil engineering structures. Royal Aeronautical Society’s first female Fellow.
Ella Collin (1903-1973): Metallurgist specialising in analysis of non-ferrous and precious metals. Her PhD in metallurgical chemistry from the University of London studied electrolytic analysis for determination of impurities in ores. Later she became an HM Schools Technical Inspector & WES President in 1952.
Kathleen Cook (1910-1971): Mechanical engineer, inventor, entrepreneur & WES president in 1955.
Dorothy Cridland (1903-1987): Although initially not trained as an engineer, she worked her way up from clerical work to become Leyland Motors Ltd’s Southern Region technical sales manager. Later she became the technical editor for the Institution of Mechanical Engineers & was WES President 1964.
Lettice Curtis (1915-2014): Pioneering commercial pilot and aeronautical engineer, first woman to fly 4-engine bombers, including the Flying Fortress.
Caroline Maude Davis (1890-1972): Metallurgist who helped run William Trow, a Midlands ironfoundry & then Miss C. Griff’s Birmingham stainless steel utensil factory.
Elsie Davison (nee Muntz) (1910-1940): Pioneering commercial pilot & aeronautical engineer. Killed whilst training for the Air Transport Auxiliary.
Delia Derbyshire (1937-2001): Pioneer in electronic music, best known for her famous BBC Dr Who theme music
Jeannie Dicks (1895-1980): Electrical contractor, managing director of P. Dicks Ltd. She electrified Winchester Cathedral.
Edith Mary Douglas (1877-1963): Director of Swanwick Shipyard on the River Hamble. WES president 1938
Winifred Drinkwater (1913-1996): Scottish aviator & engineer. UK’s youngest commercial pilot & flight engineer.
Victoria Drummond (1894-1978): First woman ship’s engineer. The first female member of the Institute (then the Institute of Marine Engineers) after joining in 1921.
Emily Dunn (nee Harris) (1901-1967): Yorkshire quarry owner. Second woman to be Elected a member of the Institute of Quarrying.
Gertrude Entwistle (1892-1961): Electrical engineer: design of AC and DC motors and generators for British Westinghouse. WES president in 1941.
Joy (Jonathan) Ferguson (1915-1974): ATA pilot and aero engineer for Air Ministry, Joy transitioned to Jonathan in the 1950s and continued to work until his early death.
Mary Isolen Fergusson (1914-1997): Scottish civil-structural engineer who designed industrial & building structures & bridges.
Marie Gayler (1991-1976): Metallurgist, expert on high temperature alloys & dental amalgams. Worked at NPL.
Elizabeth Georgeson (1895-?): Scotland’s first female engineering graduate. Expert in mine safety engineering, and poet.
Lillian Gilbreth (1878-1972): An American psychologist, industrial engineer, consultant, and educator who was an early pioneer in applying psychology to time-and-motion studies. She was described in the 1940s as "a genius in the art of living”. Gilbreth, one of the first female engineers to earn a Ph.D., is considered to be the first industrial/organizational psychologist. She worked and mentored British women engineers
Muriel Glauert (nee Barker) (1892-1949): Mathematician and aerodynamicist at Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough.
Pauline Gower (1910-1947): Qualified as a ground engineer and held an 'A' (private) pilot's licence. Set up air taxi company with Dorothy Spicer, first woman to be awarded the Air Ministry's Second Class Navigator's Licence. Set up and led the women’s section of the ATA.
Anne Greaves (1901-1948c): Yorkshirewoman who ran her own quarry, designed its machinery and invented Betna, an artificial stone.
Helen Grimshaw (1904-1987): RAE specialist in de-icing equipment, oxygen equipment, g-force/pressure suits & other safety equipment.
Winifred Hackett (1906-1994): Electrical engineer, rose to become head of English Electric ‘s Guided Weapons Division, including overseeing DEUCE computer. WES president in 1946.
Isabel Hardwich (1919-1987): Electronic engineer who specialised in electron microsopy and photometry, working for Metropolitan Vickers. WES president in 1961.
Caroline Haslett (1895-1957): Engineer, founding Secretary & president of both the Women’s Engineering Society & the Electrical Association for Women. Prominent spokeswoman and ambassador for women in engineering, and member of many boards and committees.
Hilda Hewlett (1864-1943): Hewlett was an early aviator and aviation entrepreneur. She was the first British woman to earn a pilot's licence. She founded and ran two related businesses: the first flying school in the United Kingdom, and a successful aircraft manufacturing business which produced more than 800 aeroplanes and employed up to 700 people. She later emigrated to New Zealand.
Frances Heywood (1902-1994): Expert in alloys for casting type for printing, for International Tin Research and Development Association. WES President 1948.
Doris Hirst (1903-1988): Technical Assistant in the Aeronautical Department of Messrs. Boulton and Paul; a lecturer in Mathematic at Queen 's University, Belfast ; and Junior Scientific Officer at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough.
Peggy Hodges (1921-2008): Microwave and systems engineer. Missile projects included Red Dean and Sea Dart, which relied heavily on the systems assessments produced by Hodges and her team. WES President in 1972.
Verena Holmes (1889-1964): Mechanical engineer, inventor and patent holder, entrepreneur, early member of WES, and President of WES in 1931.
Hilda Hudson (1881-1965): Cambridge University educated mathematician who joined the Air Ministry subdivision in 1917 to apply her mathematical modelling skills to aeronautical engineering research and aircraft design.
Daphne Jackson (1936-1991): Medical nuclear engineer, UK’s first female physics professor. Founder of returner fellowships programme for women in STEM.
Amy Johnson (1903-1941): Record-setting pilot, celebrity, and first woman to get the Air Ministry’s ground-engineer’s Licence. Disappeared whilst serving in the ATA in WW2, and her plane was never found. WES President 1935.
Eily Keary (1892-1975): First woman to have her paper read at RINA: ‘The effect of the longitudinal motion of a ship on its static transverse stability’. Worked at National Physical Laboratory.
Elizabeth Kennedy (1886c-1958): Machine tools expert, business manager and WES President in 1932.
Elizabeth Killick (1924-2019): Senior government defence electronics engineer and first woman Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Head of Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment. underwater weapons department.
Elizabeth Laverick (1925-2010): Microwave engineer, working on guided weapons systems. She worked for Elliott Automation (part of Elliot Brothers) rising to become general manager of Elliott Automation Radar Systems. She was involved in the development of the airborne Early Warning system later known as the Nimrod. WES President in 1968.
Margaret Law (1928-2017): Fire safety engineer, expert in fire behaviour in multi-storey flats & football stadiums.
Sheila Leather (1898-1983): Self-taught engineer, World War 2 aircraft engineer, then government Women Technical Officer, she set up a small engineering firm with Verena Holmes. WES President in 1950 & campaigned for equal pay.
Minnie Lindsay (1897-1953): Although thought to have been only the second Scotswoman to gain a mechanical engineering degree (Univ Edin 1921) she worked in civil engineer, initially on ‘Lady Carnarvon's Anti-Malarial Mission’, in Albania as a field engineer-surveyor on waterworks until World War 2 when she had to return to UK.
Hilda Lyon (1896-1946): Aeronautical engineer, streamlining expert and developer of the “Lyon shape” for submarines. Worked at Royal Aircraft Establishment. Helped design R101 airship.
May Maple (1914-2012): Electrical power engineer for the CEGB, and WES president in 1970, and industrial relations consultant.
Kate Maslen (1920-2002): One of the many top maths graduates recruited by the Royal Aircraft Establishment Farnborough. She worked with Anne Burns to develop early use of strain gauges to test plane safety. Later she specialised in the design of breathing equipment for both aircraft and space use.
Mabel Matthews (1879-1970c): Manager of the Consolidated Pneumatic Tool Co Ltd, and initiator of the Electrical Association for Women in 1924.
Monica Maurice (1908-1995): Lighting engineer and specialist in mine safety lamps. Car racer, flyer and fashion-lover.
Marion McQuillan (1922-1998): Metallurgist, authority on titanium alloys and Vice President of The Institute of Metals in 1973. Worked at the RAE 1942-47, then Aeronautical Research Laboratory. Later at ICI Metals, becoming Technical Director of the New Metals Division of IMI in1967. She was the founder member of a team set up to develop materials for gas turbine engines.
Maxine 'Blossom' Miles (1901-1984): Aviator and designer, helped design the Miles Sparrowhawk. Director of Phillip and Powis Aircraft Ltd, which became Miles Aircraft Ltd, for which she was the draughtswoman.
Veronica “Ronnie” Milligan (1926-1989): South West Electricity Board’s first female engineer, and WES President in 1978. Her first big responsibility was to check and rectify all air break links in the 11KV line after a previous engineer electrocuted himself.
Lady Margaret Moir (1864-1942): In WW1 she trained as a lathe operator. When she realised that many munitions workers were not getting any days off, she organised the Week End Relief Scheme for industrial workers; their places being taken by Moir herself and other privileged women. This scheme was launched at the Vickers factories at Erith in Kent, but spread elsewhere. Founder of WES and President in 1929.
Madeleine Nobbs (1914-1970): Heating and ventilation engineer, she took over her father’s firm, WJ Perkins & partners on his death and completed its contract for the post-war rebuilding of the Old Bailey. WES president 1959.
Lucy Oldfield (1925-1989):
Claudia Parsons (1900-1998): Automobile engineer and long distance driver, first woman to circumnavigate the world by car. One of the 1st group of 4 women to get engineering diplomas from Loughborough Tech. In WW2 became machinist and a Munitions Factory inspector.
Rachel Parsons (1885-1956): First woman to study mechanical engineering at Cambridge. Became a director on the board of her father's Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company and oversaw the recruitment and training of women war workers in WW1. Founder of the Women’s Engineering Society and its first President. Daughter of Sir Charles and Katharine, Lady Parsons.
Katharine Parsons (1859-1933): Founder of WES - hugely influential woman in early engineering. Member of the North East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders and WES President in 1922. Married to Sir Charles Parsons.
Margaret Partridge (1891-1967): Electrical power supply pioneer & campaigner for women’s right to work at night.
Alice Perry (1885-1969): First woman in the UK (Eire was still part of the UK then) to get an engineering degree (1906). She remains the only woman to have been a County Surveyor (County Engineer) in Ireland. Later she was an HM Factory Inspector.
Dorothy Pile (1902-1993): Metallurgical engineer specialising in strain, corrosion cracking & surface defects of non-ferrous metals.
Ruth Pirret (1974-1939): Scottish metallurgist and expert in corrosion of marine boiler tubes. Worked at National Physical Laboratory & Imperial College.
Jane Plant (1945-2016): Geochemist, metallurgist & expert on the effects of environmental chemicals & diet in cancers. British Geological Survey’s first female chief scientist & Institution of Mining & Metallurgy’s first woman president.
Beryl Platt (Baroness Platt of Writtle) (1923-2015): Aeronautical engineer in WW2 Hawker's Experimental Flight Test Department, then British European Airway’s air safety dept. Later she went into politics and became a member of the Lords.
Dorothée Pullinger (1894-1986): Early automobile engineer and time-trials driver, she designed the Galloway car, made by a mainly female workforce at Arrol Johnston’s in Scotland, and marketed the car for women drivers.
Molly Quennell: BSc in Mechanical Engineering from University College, London, and gained a Diploma from Imperial College in Advanced Aeronautics. She had training in the workshops of National Flying Services, in the stressing office of Short Bros., Rochester, and in the airworthiness department of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, and went on to work at British Aircraft Manufacturing Co.
Margaret Rowbotham (1883-1978): Mechanical and electrical engineer & founder-member of the Women’s Engineering Society.
Dorothy Rowntree (1903-1988): The first woman to get a degree in naval architecture. After graduating from the University of Glasgow she worked with her father who was a Lloyds’ ship surveyor before moving to Lebanon.
Mary Roxburgh (1896-1973): Scotswoman Evelyn Roxburgh is thought to have been the first woman to qualify as an electrical engineer in Scotland. Worked for Metropolitan Vickers and HM Factory Inspectorate.
Barbara Sabey (1928c-2013): The top road safety engineer of her period. Her work brought in laws on tyres, traffic calming, seat belts & alcohol limits. She was also an enthusiastic rally driver.
Lesley Scott Souter (Born 1917):
Gwendolen Sergant (1926-1979): She started out as an industrial technician in the electric lighting industry but then took an army commission working mainly with REME, rising to Major responsible for maintaining the army’s entire vehicle fleet.
Anne Gillespie Shaw (1904-1982): Production and efficiency engineer. Pioneer of motion study methods in the UK. Trained by Gilbreth.
Eleanor Shelley-Rolls (1872-1961): Lady Shelley-Rolls was founder WES, and a keen hot air ballooner. She was the sister of Sir Charles Rolls.
Beatrice Shilling (1909-1990): Aero-engine expert at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, she is principally celebrated today for her WW2 role in solving the carburettor problems of the Rolls Royce Merlin engines used in the Spitfires and Hurricanes, leading to her invention of the “RAE Restrictor” or, less officially, “Miss Shilling’s Orifice”. She later also worked on rocket and missile engines.
Karen Spärck Jones (1935-2007): A British computer scientist responsible for the concept of inverse document frequency, a technology that underlies most modern search engines. In 2019, The New York Times published her belated obituary in its series Overlooked, calling her "a pioneer of computer science for work combining statistics and linguistics, and an advocate for women in the field.
Dorothy Spicer (1908-1946): Qualified as a ground engineer and held an 'A' (private) pilot's license, and later was first woman to gain the B engineer’s licence. In flying business with Pauline Gower. Later did research with the Air Registration Board.
Nora Stanton Barney (1883-1971): English-born US civil engineer, architect, and suffragist. Barney was among the first women to graduate with an engineering degree in United States (1905). Worked for the New York City Board of Water Supply and for the American Bridge Company. In 1909, she began working as an engineer for the Radley Steel Construction Company.
Jean Taylor (1924-1999): President of the Institute of Wood Science (IWSc) from 1986-1988 and was probably the first woman member of IWSc. Taylor served in the WRAF during World War 2 working on airframe maintenance and graduated from Cardiff University, UK, with a degree in Zoology. She joined the Forest Products Research Laboratory (FPRL) laboratory testing technology and prediction of real-life performance. Later she became Technical Director at Protim.
Mary Thompson Irvine (1919-2001): Structural engineer believed to have been the ﬁrst women to be elected a Chartered Member of the Institution of Structural Engineers in 1947.
Blanche Thornycroft (1873-1951): Mathematician and naval architect. During WW1 in particular, other things which utilised Blanche’s mathematical and engineering skills, involved moorings for explosive mines and a unique high-speed propeller, which could jump over cables. Blanche became the first lady-member to be admitted to The Royal Institute of Naval Architects in 1917.
Constance Tipper (1894-1995): Devised the Tipper test as a means of ascertaining the brittleness of steel under cold temperatures. Her WW2 work was on deformation and fracture of iron and steel, investigating the failures occurring in all-welded ships, the so-called Liberty cargo ships. Worked in the metallurgical department at the NPL and then at the Royal School of Mines.
Theresa Wallach (1909-1999): Motorcycle engineer, racer, adventurer, teacher, businesswoman & author. One of only three extraordinary women to achieve the Gold Star in Brooklands, the others being Florence Blenkiron and Beatrice Shilling.
Waterloo Bridge Builders (1939-1945): During the Second World War many women construction workers were drafted in to complete the build of the Waterloo Bridge- also known as the Ladies Bridge - in London.
Maria Watkins (1918c-2010): Defence electronics engineer and medical electronics innovator. In World War 2 did research for PLUTO Pipeline Under the Ocean project and secret airplane guidance system. WES President in 1980.
Johanna Weber (1910-2014): German born Royal Aircraft Establishment aerodynamic engineer, designer of Concorde’s iconic swept wing, VC10 & Airbus 380 wings.
(Misses) Weinling: The Weinling family introduced the secret of Goldbeaters Skin for making the gas envelopes for hydrogen balloons and airships. They ran the workshops at the Balloon Factory, later the Royal Aircraft Establishment.
Laura Annie Willson (1877-1942): Yorkshirewoman, suffragette, trades union activist, engineer, housebuilder, founding member & president of WES in 1926.
Rose Winslade (1919-1982): Acoustic and electronics engineer and technical educator. Member of staff at the Council of Engineering Institutions.
Mary Lee Woods (Mrs Berners-Lee) (1924-2017): Mathematician and computer scientist who worked in a team that developed programs in the School of Computer Science, University of Manchester. She worked for Ferranti on both the Ferranti Mark 1 and the Ferranti Mark 1 Star computers. Mother of Tim Berners-Lee.

The Judges

The judges of the competition are:

Dr Nina Baker
Dawn Bonfield MBE
Henrietta Heald
Anne Locker
Professor Gordon Masterton OBE
Dr Jess Wade
Dr Will Whittow

Dr Nina Baker
I have had a varied career, mainly in traditionally male-majority fields. On leaving school in 1972 I went to sea and became a merchant navy deck officer, gaining my First Mate's Certificate of Competency and sailing on tankers and cargo ships for seven years. After a few years living abroad I went to university as a mature student and took an engineering degree followed by a PhD in concrete durability. I then spent many years in the further and higher education sectors in Glasgow, mainly in engineering research administration. From 2007-2017 I was a councillor on Glasgow City Council on behalf of the Scottish Green Party. Now that I am retired I am able to devote all my time to my long-term interests of promoting engineering careers and researching the part which women have played in the history of engineering.

Dawn Bonfield MBE
I am a materials engineer originally, and Past President and former CEO of the Women's Engineering Society. During my time at WES I became increasingly interested in the history of women in engineering, and set up and continue to run the Magnificent Women project, which hopes to inspire the future through bringing the amazing achievements of our historical women to light. In 2016 I was founder of the original Top 50 Influential Women in Engineering List with WES and the Daily Telegraph, and realise the power of raising the profile of these women of our past and present, so the WES centenary in 2019 offers a great opportunity to raise the profile of our historical women in engineering. I look forward to seeing who makes it to the final list.

Henrietta Heald
I am a writer and editor with published work on a wide range of subjects.
Magnificent Women and their Revolutionary Machines, my book about the founders of the Women’s Engineering Society, will be published in September 2019 to mark the society’s centenary. I have also written a biography of William Armstrong, the great Victorian industrialist and engineer who created Cragside in Northumberland, the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity. Entitled William Armstrong, Magician of the North, it was shortlisted for two literary awards, including the Best First Biography Prize. For the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, I have written entries on three WES founders: Rachel Parsons, Margaret Moir and Laura Annie Willson.

Anne Locker
As the manager of the Library and Archives collections at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, I’m fortunate to have worked with a wide range of fascinating collections on the history of engineering, including the archives of the Women’s Engineering Society, the personal papers of Dame Caroline Haslett and the archives of the Electrical Association for Women. I’ve also been a volunteer editor for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography to help encourage the creation of more biographies of women engineers.

Prof Gordon Masterton, OBE DL HonDEng HonDTech BA MSc DIC FREng FRSE FICE FIStructE FIES MCIWEM
Chair of Future Infrastructure, The University of Edinburgh
I am a civil and structural engineer, formerly a Vice President of Jacobs, and was appointed to the Chair of Future Infrastructure at the University of Edinburgh in September 2015.
I was President of the Institution of Civil Engineers (2005-06) and now chair its Panel for Historical Engineering Works, very active in 2018 producing the “Shaping the World” commemorative bicentenary volume. I conceived and chair the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame.
I was Chairman of the Construction Industry Council (2009-11), President of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland (2009-11) and Vice Chairman of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (2002-15). I chaired the ICE/IStructE/HSE Standing Committee on Structural Safety from 2009-16. I am Middle Warden of the Worshipful Company of Engineers and Deacon of the Hammermen of Glasgow.

Dr Jess Wade
I am an excitable scientist with an enthusiasm for equality. I have been involved in several projects to improve gender inclusion in science, as well as encouraging more young people to study science and engineering. I won the Institute of Physics (IOP) Early Career Communicator Prize (2015), “I’m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here!” (2015), the IOP Jocelyn Bell Burnell Award (2016), the Institution of Materials, Mineral and Mining's 'Robert Perrin Award' (2017), the Imperial College Dame Julia Higgins Certificate (2017) and the IOP Daphne Jackson Medal and Prize (2018). I sit on the committees of the IOP’s Women in Physics Group, Physics Communicators Group and London & South East Branch. I am on the Council of the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) and Women in Science & Engineering (WISE) Young Women’s Board. In 2017 I was the UK representative on a US State Department International Visitor Leadership Program, travelling across America for a month looking at initiatives to recruit and retain women in ‘STEM’. I co-led the UK Team at the 2017 International Conference for Women in Physics. I am a keen Wikipedian, and am helping to upload the biographies of women, LGBTQ+ and POC scientists - creating one every day in 2018!

Dr Will Whittow FHEA SMIEEE
I am a Reader in Radiofrequency Materials in the School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering at Loughborough University and have been awarded £11M in research income and authored more than 200 publications on topics related to antennas, metamaterials and 3D-Printing RF Materials. I'm a passionate advocate for Women in Engineering and won the inaugural Women’s Engineering Society (WES) “Men as Allies Award in 2017. I give many talks, lead hands-on outreach events, write invited articles, and actively tweets about #WomenInSTEM: @willwhittow

For further details of this list, or to get in touch to provide further information about your nominated candidate, please see the Contact Details here.

Milestones

Milestones for Women in Engineering taken from the book ‘Magnificent Women and their Revolutionary Machines’ by Henrietta Heald

1898 Hertha Ayrton becomes the first female member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers. In 1904 she is the first woman to read a paper on her work at the Royal Society. In 1906 she receives the Hughes Medal of the Royal Society – another first.
1906 Alice Perry is first woman in Europe to graduate with a degree in engineering, from Queen’s College, Galway, Ireland. [DB has 1908]
1910 The Anglo-Irish journalist and pioneer aviator Lilian Bland is the first woman in the world to design, build and fly an aircraft – the Bland Mayfly.
1910 Rachel Parsons is the first woman to take the Mechanical Sciences Tripos at Cambridge University. The sisters Elsie and Eily Keary follow in her footsteps. All three enter Newnham College.
1911 Hilda Hewlett is the first British woman to earn a pilot’s licence, a year after opening the first flying school in Britain, at Brooklands motor-racing circuit in Surrey.
1917 Eily Keary is the first woman to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. She is researching aeronautics at the William Froude National Tank at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex, where she stays for 14 years.
1917 In the year in which the Order of the British Empire honours are instituted, engineer and businesswoman Laura Annie Willson is awarded an MBE.
1919 Elizabeth Georgeson becomes the first female engineering graduate in Scotland. She goes onto become an expert in fire safety in mines, at the Safety in Mines Research Laboratory.
1919 The Women’s Engineering Society is founded by Katharine and Rachel Parsons and several others, with Caroline Haslett as secretary.
1919 Rachel Parsons, Eily Keary and Blanche Thornycroft are the first three women admitted as associate members of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects.
1920 Cleone de Heveningham Benest, who was calling herself Miss Clayton Griff at the time, and Dorothée Pullinger are the first female associate members of the Institution of Automobile Engineers.
1921 Margaret Partridge sets up her electric power supply company, M. Partridge and Co., Domestic Engineers, offering to install electrical power in rural homes in southwest England.
1921 Victoria Drummond is the first female member of the Institute of Marine Engineers.
1921 Letitia Chitty is first woman to graduate from Cambridge University with first-class honours in the Mechanical Sciences Tripos. She goes on to become a noted aeronautical and structural engineer.
1922 Galloway Engineering Company starts manufacturing the Galloway car designed by Dorothée Pullinger specifically for women drivers. She also races Galloway cars successfully in Scottish time trials.
1924 The Electrical Association for Women, proposed by Mabel Matthews, is founded to pioneer the use of electricity in the home. Caroline Haslett is appointed director.
1924 Verena Holmes becomes the first female associate member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and of the Institution of Marine Engineers, having worked for the New London Ship and Engine Co.
1925 Annette Ashberry, founder manager of Atalanta Ltd, an all-female engineering company, is the first woman to be admitted to the Society of Engineers, a learned body.
1926 Dorothy Rowntree is first woman to qualify as a naval architect, gaining her BSc Engineering Naval Architecture from the University of Glasgow and worked with her father, who was a Lloyds’ ship surveyor.
1927 Dorothy Buchanan is the first female member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and works on Sydney Harbour Bridge. She becomes part of the design team at Dorman Long, based in Middlesbrough, for the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle.
1930 Amy Johnson, the first woman to qualify as a ground engineer, makes the first solo flight by a woman from England to Australia.
1931 Verena Holmes is the first woman admitted to the Institution of Locomotive Engineers, and registers her 11th patent.
1933 Elizabeth Kennedy, managing director of J. B. Stone & Co., machine tool manufacturers, wins an award from the Institution of Electrical Engineers for her paper ‘An analysis of the cost of electrical supply and distribution in Great Britain’.
1936 Anne Shaw, an expert in industrial efficiency and motion studies, becomes the first woman member of the Institution of Production Engineers.
1940 Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) is formed by members of the Women’s Engineering Society, including Pauline Gower who becomes its commandant. During the Second World War it employs 166 female pilots.
1940 Thousands of women worked as codebreakers at Bletchley Park during the Second World War.
1941 Netta Harvey becomes one of only four women to be trained as shipyard electricians on Clydeside. She wires ships under construction at Harland and Wolff and later at John Brown & Co.
1944 Verena Holmes is the first female member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
1945 Completion of Waterloo Bridge in London – known as the Ladies’ Bridge because it was largely built by women.
1947 Caroline Haslett is the first female member of the British Electricity Authority (later the Central Electricity Authority).
1947 Helen Maurice, electrical engineer, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, is part of a British intelligence mission to Germany to inspect certain specialised industries. From 1951 to 1979 she is managing director of Wolf Safety Lamp Co.
1951 Lesley Scott Souter, electrical engineer, becomes team leader at General Electric Co., working on properties of germanium for radar and TV. She was the first woman to receive a BSc in Engineering at Glasgow University, in 1940.
1957 Molly Fergusson is the first female Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers. In 1948 she was appointed Britain’s first female senior partner in a civil engineering firm, Blyth & Blyth.
1958 Irene Ferguson, a chief experimental officer at the Air Ministry and former ATA pilot, transitions to become Jonathan Ferguson. Jonathan’s civil service employers move him onto the male pay grade.
1959 Kathleen Booth publishes Programming for an Automatic Digital Calculator, an early book on computer design and programming. She is the designer of one of the world’s first three operational computers.
1961 Lucy Oldfield is presented with a glass slipper to commemorate her year as chairman of the London section of the Society of Glass Technology. She works at General Electric Co.’s Hirst Research Centre in Wembley, Middlesex.
1983 Barbara Sabey is awarded the Imperial Service Order for her contribution to road safety during a 40-year career at the Transport and Road Research Laboratory, where she was recruited as a young physics graduate in the 1940s.
1984 Baroness Beryl Platt established WISE – Women into Science and Engineering - whilst at the Equal Opportunities Commission to highlight the career opportunities for girls and women in science and engineering professions.
1985 Daphne Jackson Trust established, to provide fellowship funding for women in STEM to return to work after career breaks.
2019 Women’s Engineering Society celebrates its centenary