Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers

The Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers , founded in 1771 by John Smeaton , Robert Mylne and five other engineers as the Society of Civil Engineers in London , was the world's first association of engineers and is therefore the oldest today. In the literature it is often referred to as “Society” for short, in contrast to the younger Institution of Civil Engineers which is briefly referred to as “Institution”. In the USA there is the American Society of Civil Engineers , whose name is based on the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers. A similar organization in Germany is the Association of German Engineers , which, however, was only founded in 1856.

history

The first known official meeting of engineers in Great Britain took place on March 15, 1771 at the Kings's Head Tavern in Holborn , London. Seven leading engineers decided to found a company for " civil engineers ". The leading head of the company was John Smeaton , the first engineer who referred to himself as a "civil engineer" (in German mostly translated as civil engineer ) in order to distinguish himself from the "military engineers" who were trained at the Royal Military Academy Woolwich . The other founding members were Thomas Yeoman , Robert Mylne , Joseph Nickalls , John Grundy , John Thompson, and James King. John Golborne, William Black, Robert Whitworth and Hugh Henshall joined in the first year . These eleven people are considered the original founding members. The number of members remained rather small until 1800: it was a maximum of 52. The professional background was diverse. They came from mill construction , instrument making, surveying, cartography , watchmaking , the building trade or architecture. All members had worked their way up to become leading engineers in various fields. Formalized training or courses of study did not yet exist. Most of them worked as consultant civil engineers on larger construction projects. Eleven were also members of the Royal Society .

With the Society, John Smeaton wanted to make engineers a socially recognized professional group. On the European mainland, an engineer was primarily understood as a person in a managerial position; in English-speaking countries, "engineer" can also mean mechanic or craftsman. The technical troops of the military are still referred to as engineers, in German as pioneers . In addition, Smeaton wanted the engineers to act as intermediaries between science and business, as well as between client and customer. Therefore, the Society only accepted people who had earned an excellent reputation and who also had a high level of education and manners. The members thus had the status of a British gentleman.

The first name of the society was "Society of Civil Engineers" (Society of Civil Engineers). When William Chadwell Mylne began keeping the minutes books in 1822, he used the term "Engineers' Society" in the reports of the meetings. In 1869 he changed it to the "Smeatonian Society". The regulations passed in 1830 first contained the name "Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers", which has been the name since then. Major Henry Watson was accepted as the first military engineer in 1774.

The society was de facto more of a combination of a scientific society such as the Royal Society and a notable club of leading engineers. The few members preferred to stay among themselves and cared little about their professional group as a whole or the promotion of individual members. Their importance therefore decreased in the 19th century. A group of young engineers founded the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1818 , which was less elitist and had more to offer its members. The Society and its organizational principle with the privileged membership in several ranks and the principle of including deserving engineers was for about 200 years a model for later engineering organizations in Great Britain and partly also in the USA. They therefore placed more emphasis on the professional performance of the members. In Germany and France, on the other hand, the formal qualification (e.g. graduate engineer ) was more important. The downright distrust of theoretical training also resulted in the relatively late founding of British and American training centers for engineers. In France, on the other hand, the Ecole Polytechnique and other schools were founded that led to the German technical universities .

When President Noel Ordman unveiled a statue of Smeaton at Westminster Abbey in 1994 , the media described it as the "triumph of the Smeatonian Society."

today

The Society exists to this day mainly as a discussion group of around sixty experienced engineers who “have distinguished themselves through their work in theory or practice in the fields of development, construction, production or management”, as well as up to eighteen emeritus members and up to fifteen honorary members.

Mottos

The Latin motto "Omnia in numero, pondere et mensura" was introduced in 1793. It was taken from the biblical book of wisdom : “But you have arranged everything according to measure, number and weight.” The suggestion by William Whewell , who had been an honorary member since 1836, “Τεχνη κρατουμεν ὢν φυσει νικωμεθα”, Greek for “We can do something through technology ruled us ”was adopted in 1843. The phrase possibly goes back to Aristotle . Both are still in use.

Historical ranks of members

From 1793 the renewed Society set itself the goal of "promoting and disseminating knowledge which is important and useful for the various areas of public and private work in the field of civil engineering". There were three different levels of membership:

• "First Class" - for "those who are actually employed in different areas of engineering, such as construction or production"
• "Second Class" - for "men of science and gentlemen of a special reputation" (honorary members)
• "Third Class" (third class) - "Various technicians / artists ('Artists') whose profession and work are necessary and useful and are connected with civil engineering" (honorary members)

In the 21st century, the first women became members of the until then exclusively male society. The first women were Jean Venables (2003), Joanna Kennedy (2006) and Julia Elton as an honorary member (2010).

President

The following list shows all presidents of the Society with their inaugural year. Honorary members are written in italics . In 1793 the Society was re-established without a president. The President was elected annually from 1841:

1771–1781 Thomas Yeoman 1781–1783 Christopher Pinchbeck 1783-1793 Joseph Nickalls 1793–1841 No president 1841 John Rennie 1842 William Chadwell Mylne 1843 Bryan Donkin 1844 George Rennie 1845 William Cubitt 1846 Peter Mark Roget 1847 Robert Stephenson 1848 Joshua Field 1849 John Taylor 1850 James Simpson 1851 Thomas Lloyd 1852 James Walker 1853 Charles Blacker Vignoles 1854 Joseph Baxendale 1855 John Rennie 1856 Robert Stephenson 1857 John Hawkshaw 1858 Henry Wollaston Blake 1859 William Chadwell Mylne 1860 John Murray 1861 William Gravatt 1862 Charles Hutton Gregory 1863 John Linton Arabin Simmons 1864 William Lindley 1865 Peter William Barlow 1866 Charles Blacker Vignoles 1867 Alfred Giles 1868 John Fowler 1869 John Penn 1870 William Francis Drummond Jervois 1871 John Frederic La Trobe Bateman 1872 Bryan Donkin 1873 George Banks Rennie 1874 John Percy 1875 William Henry Barlow 1876 Joseph William Bazalgette 1877 James Abernethy 1878 James Brunlees 1879 Charles William Siemens No president in 1880 1881 Warington Wilkinson Smyth 1882 George Barclay Bruce 1883 Frederick Joseph Bramwell 1884 Edward Woods 1885 Thomas Hawksley 1886 Frederick Augustus Abel 1887 Robert Joseph Rawlinson 1888 William Crossman 1889 John Clarke Hawkshaw 1890 Richard Boxall Grantham 1891 John Linton Arabin Simmons 1892 John Wolfe Barry 1893 Samuel Pope 1894 Benjamin Baker 1895 Henry Marc Brunel 1896 Douglas Galton 1897 Frank McClean 1898 William Henry Preece 1899 Sir Andrew Noble

1900 William Henry White 1901 Francis Willam Webb 1902 James Dewar 1903 Percy George Buchanan Westmacott 1904 Alexander Richardson Binnie 1905 George Chatterton 1906 Alexander Siemens 1907 George Neill Abernethy 1908 Alexander Blackie William Kennedy 1909 George Frederick Deacon 1910 Cuthbert Andrew Brereton 1911 Charles Hawksley 1912 George Robert Jebb 1913 William Cawthorne Unwin 1914 Philip Watts 1915–18 No president 1919 John Hutton Balfour Browne 1920 Saxton William Armstrong Noble 1921 John Strain 1922 John Harvard Biles 1923 Robert Elliott-Cooper 1924 Maurice Fitzmaurice 1925 Alan Archibald Campbell Swinton 1926 Henry Reginald Arnulph Mallock 1927 John Assheton Rennie 1928 William Barton Worthington 1929 Henry John Oram 1930 John Henry Tudsbery Tudsbery 1931 John Audley Frederick Aspinall 1932 Archibald Denny 1933 Kenneth Alfred Wolfe Barry 1934 Charles Langbridge Morgan 1935 William Vaux Graham 1936 Ernest Frederic Crosbie Trench 1937 Charles Pratt Sparks 1938 John McFarlane Kennedy 1939 Thomas Garmondsway Wrightson 1940 No president 1941 Westcott Styles Abell 1942 Eustace Henry Tennyson-d'Eyncourt 1943 Maurice Fitzgerald Wilson 1944 John Edward Thornycroft 1945 Richard Augustine Studdart Redmayne 1946 William James Eames Binnie 1947 Sir Alexander Gibb 1948 Leopold Halliday Savile 1949 Sydney Bryan Donkin 1950 Cyril Reginald Sutton Kirkpatrick 1951 Reginald William Skelton 1952 Murdoch MacDonald 1953 David Anderson 1954 William Thomson Halcrow 1955 Jonathan Robertson Davidson 1956 Marmaduke Tudsbery Tudsbery 1957 Vernon Alec Murray Robertson 1958 Thomas Edwin Hawksley 1959 Allan Stephen Quartermaine 1960 William Henry Morgan 1961 Bruce Gordon White 1962 William Kelly Wallace 1963 Reginald Duncan Gwyther 1964 John Garmondsway Wrightson 1965 John Sunderland Langdale Train

1966 George Matthew McNaughton 1967 Denys Chester Ford 1968 David Mowat Watson 1969 William Henry Glanville 1970 Geoffrey Morse Binnie 1971 Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh 1972 Reginald William Mountain 1973 Harold John Boyer Harding 1974 John Elliott George Palmer 1975 Reginald White Hawkey 1976 Victor Shepheard 1977 Frank Trowbridge Mason 1978 Ralph Freeman 1979 Cecil Robert Costeker Turner 1980 Thomas Angus Lyall Paton 1981 Alec Westley Skempton 1982 Douglas Cecil Coode 1983 Eric Grant Yarrow 1984 William Gordon Harris 1985 Alfred Henry Cantrell 1986 John Walter Baxter 1987 John Garth Watson 1988 William Kirby Laing 1989 Alan James Harris 1990 Edwin McAlpine 1990 Alan Mais, Baron Mais 1991 Arthur David Holland 1992 (Francis) David Penny 1993 John Vernon Bartlett 1994 N Noel B Ordman 1995 James G Wiltshire 1996 James Watt 1997 Henry Chilver 1998 Philip Watson 1999 Peter Arthur Cox 2000 Sir Hugh Ford 2001 James Anthony Gaffney 2002 Peter JM Pellereau 2003 Diarmuid Downs 2004 Jacques Heyman 2005 John C McKenzie 2006 Charles Pringle 2007 William McAlpine 2008 Martin Laing 2009 David Gwilym Morris Roberts 2010 John Parker 2011 Alastair JM Soane 2012 G Oliver Whitehead 2013 George Bartlett 2014 Alec Broers, Baron Broers 2015 John M Watson 2016 Robin L Wilson

Individual evidence

1. ^ Society of Civil Engineers , at Dictionary of National Biography , accessed February 20, 2015
2. ^ ^{A b} Gwilym Roberts: From Kendal's Coffee House to Great George Street . Thomas Telford, 1995, ISBN 0-7277-2022-8 , p. 1.
3. ^ AW Skempton: Early members of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers . In: Transactions [Newcomen Society] . 44, 1971, pp. 23-47. Accessed December 31, 2019.
4. ↑ Kees Gispen: The fettered Prometheus: The engineers in Great Britain and in the United States 1750-1945 , p. 128f. in: Walter Kaiser , Wolfgang König (ed.): History of the engineer . Munich: Hanser, 2006, pp. 127–178.
5. ↑ Kees Gispen: The fettered Prometheus: The engineers in Great Britain and in the United States 1750-1945 , p. 127. in: Walter Kaiser, Wolfgang König (ed.): History of the engineer . Munich: Hanser, 2006, pp. 127–178.
6. ↑ Kees Gispen: The fettered Prometheus: The engineers in Great Britain and in the United States 1750-1945 , p. 128f. in: Walter Kaiser, Wolfgang König (ed.): History of the engineer . Munich: Hanser, 2006, pp. 127–178.
7. ^ ^{A b c d e} Garth Watson: The Smeatonians: The Society of Civil Engineers . Thomas Telford, 1989, ISBN 0-7277-1526-7 .
8. ↑ Kees Gispen: The fettered Prometheus: The engineers in Great Britain and in the United States 1750-1945 , p. 129 in: Walter Kaiser, Wolfgang König (ed.): History of the engineer . Munich: Hanser, 2006, pp. 127–178.
9. ^ John Smeaton Westminster-Abbey.org.Retrieved June 26, 2015.
10. ^ Civil Honor . In: The Times , Nov 7, 1994, p. 16. Retrieved June 26, 2015. 
11. ↑ Westminster Abbey - Robert Stephenson . Retrieved June 26, 2015.