More about us

How it started

The Society was founded in 1920. A number of senior engineers in industry, curators from London's Science Museum and members of the Patent Office joined together to form a society to promote, encourage and co-ordinate the study of the history of engineering and technology.

It is named after Thomas Newcomen, the inventor and developer of the first practicable atmospheric steam engine. Newcomen is a symbol of the great industrial movement which owed so much to the coming of steam power.

The Society has always embraced the widest range of disciplines of engineering and technology, spanning from ancient civilizations to the computer age.

The aims of the Society

The main aim of the Society is to promote, encourage and co-ordinate the study of the history of engineering, industry and technology by :

• disseminating historical information to members of the Society and the general public, by way of meetings, discussion, correspondence, the circulation of papers and visits to objects and places of interest
  
  
• fostering and maintaining historical investigation and research, acting as a channel of communication and recording where information is to be found
  
  
• encouraging the collection and preservation of examples, records, manuscripts, drawings and illustrations relating to engineering work and the industrial processes, and relevant biographical material
  
  
• arranging for the presentation of original papers on subjects of historical engineering or technological interest and publishing them

Our current membership

The Society attracts a wide range of members, from practising engineers and industrial archaeologists to historians and academics - and of course amateur enthusiasts of all kinds.

We currently have members in many different countries, ranging from Europe to the US and Canada, Australia, India and Japan. We also have approximately 150 affiliated members and subscribers, including many university libraries.

Branch structure

The Society has its headquarters at the Science Museum in London, and currently has six branches in the UK:

• Midlands Branch
• North-Eastern Branch
• North-Western Branch
• Scotland Branch
• Southern Branch
• Western Branch

Shortly after its foundation, the Society established a branch in America , which in 1943 became a financially independent, affiliated, society, with somewhat different aims. In 1983 it became a quite separate Society: The Newcomen Society of the United States. (See www.newcomen.org).

How we are funded

The Society is funded entirely by its subscription income, and by a number of kind bequests.

The Newcomen Society is a registered charity, registered in the UK (Charity No 215410).

Memorandum and Articles of Association (PDF file).



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