A History of the Institution of Electrical Engineers 1871–1971 by W. J. Reader

Abstract

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 479 to assess the role of invention in the business accomplishments of a major British machine-tool producer, as well as to discuss sources of capital and the contribution made by business partners and employees to the firm’s success. Nasmyth served as personal assistant to Henry Maudslay between 1829 and 1831, then returned to Edinburgh to make preparations for establishing himself as an independent engineer. By 1834 he had sufficient machine tools and capital to commence on his own; after a short period of indecision about whether to base himself in Liverpool or Manchester, he selected the latter. Manchester was the mecca for a number of engineering firms in the early 19th century. The growth in the demand for self-acting tools, added to the improved commu­ nications consequent on the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, made the city a happy choice for the young and ambitious Nasmyth. One of Cantrell’s main contributions is his careful assessment of the many claims made by Nasmyth to enhance the hero image. For example, Nasmyth failed to mention the role of the Birley family as initial sleeping partners in the firm. In the fraught area of the inven­ tion of the steam hammer, Cantrell considers the role of the French firm of Le Creuzot and the contribution ofthe general works manager, Robert Wilson. Nasmyth’s highly uncharitable behavior in regard to Wilson resulted in public acrimony and doubt. But there is no doubt about the hammer’s contribution in the success of Nasmyth’s Bridgewater Foundry. “We are quite throng making them for all quarters. The demand is rising rapidly,” Nasmyth wrote in 1844. British gov­ ernment contracts represented 17 percent of sales by value between 1843 and 1856, and 148 hammers were exported, including ten to India and three to Australia. This is a most useful contribution to the history of engineering. In the light of Contrell’s researches, Nasmyth’s reputation as inventor must be qualified, but his achievement as entrepreneur has been clearly established. Jennifer Tann Dr. Tann is director of the Centre for Continuing Education at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. A History of the Institution of Electrical Engineers 1871—1971. By W. J. Reader. London: Peter Peregrinus for the Institution of Electrical Engineers, 1987. Pp. x + 327; illustrations, tables, notes, appendixes, index. $30.00. In 1871, at a time when British economic power was near its pin­ nacle, British engineers in the telegraph industry created the Society of Telegraph Engineers to promote technical and social interaction 480 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE among themselves. The Society of Telegraph Engineers expanded in the 1880s to include the growing number of electrical engineers en­ gaged in electric power supply for lighting and industry, changing its name to the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) in 1889. By 1921, when the IEE secured a royal charter, it had become the largest of Britain’s professional engineering societies, a position it still holds today. The story of the IEE was initially told by Rollo Appleyard in 1939. W. J. Reader’s work both retells and updates Appleyard’s account. Institutional histories can be dull, largely of interest only to mem­ bers. Reader’s history of the IEE, however, is not dull. There are at least two good reasons for this. First, he constantly places the history of the IEE into its social and professional context. Second, he does not attempt to hide or avoid controversies, something too prevalent in histories sponsored by engineering societies. For example, Reader ties the mundane matter of changing IEE member grades to the evolution of engineering training in Britain, in particular the long persistence of, and continuing sympathy for, apprenticeship training (p. 119). On an even broader level, he dem­ onstrates how prevailing national concerns such as declining British industrial strength, post—World War II planning, and trade union activism influenced the activities of the institution. He also discusses how internal IEE developments influenced the organization’s ability to interact with the outside world. Following the terms of the royal charter granted in 1921 that emphasized the lEE’s role as a noncom­ mercial, learned organization, the IEE...