'Ingenious Women' by Deborah Jaffé
2026-03-17 18:30 - 20:00 (Europe/London) | MANCHESTER International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Engine House, Chorlton Mill, 3 Cambridge Street,, Manchester, M1 5BY
Photo Credit: Deborah Jaffé
An in-person only event. No need to sign up, just come along – all are welcome.
Since Amye Everard Ball became the first woman to be granted an English patent in 1637, hundreds have been awarded to women but rarely cited. These overlooked women navigated legislation and social assumption of their times, to ensure their patents were registered as their own. Referring to themselves as housewives, widows, inventors, scientists, nurses, electricians and engineers, their patents were wide ranging including for industrial machinery, dishwashers, lifesaving equipment, safety devices for train travel, underwear for bicycle riding, stab proof vests, and the teaching of geometry.
Historically, women played important roles in scientific and technological development and innovation, as well as in running companies or fighting in the courts for ownership of their intellectual property. Inevitably, some of the patents have been surpassed by further improvements and developments, but they illustrate great ingenuity and thought.
This lecture will take some key characters and their patents to show their ingenuity.
About the Speaker
Deborah Jaffé is a cultural historian and author of eight books including Ingenious Women, from tincture of saffron to flying machines (Sutton 2003) and The History of Toys (Sutton (2006); and coeditor with Dr Stephen Wilson of Memories of the Future (Peter Lang 2019).
Deborah was the editor of Newcomen Links for 10 years and a member of the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood Trustees’ Committee; and has lectured widely on women and innovation, the history of toys and her current research on refugee related subjects.

'W. G. Fearnsides FRS: a geological model of vision and versatility' by Duncan Hawley
2026-03-23 18:30 - 20:00 | SHEFFIELD Kelham Island Museum, Alma Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S3 8RG
Joining us IN PERSON – just turn up, there’s no need to register
Joining us ON-Line – click this zoom link (Passcode [REDACTED])
W. G. Fearnsides (1879–1968) was born in West Yorkshire. He was a first-class scholar in geology at the University of Cambridge and following an interesting interlude in the USA, he returned to Cambridge, initially as a freelance geologist, then working in the Geology Department, contributing to their focus of research on the rocks of north and central Wales. In 1913, he was appointed the first occupant of the Sorby Chair of Geology at the University of Sheffield, establishing the Geology Department at Sheffield and deciding to follow similar veins of research to Sheffield geologist H.C. Sorby.
In his time, Fearnsides was an outstanding geologist of remarkable versatility, especially in the fields of applied science. One of his key legacies was a better understanding of how to apply geology and the importance of research on resources, especially coal, iron ore and local refractory materials. Another legacy is in highlighting the importance of ‘home geology’ for national resilience and security. Arguably, the raw-material-based industries of Sheffield and beyond would not have been so productive and resourceful in two world wars without the efforts of W. G. Fearnsides.
W. G. Fearnsides was honoured by many scientific and professional societies. He received the gold medal of the Surveyors’ Institution in 1913 and the Greenwell Medal from the North of England Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. He was an honorary member of the Institute of Mining Engineers.
About the Speaker
Duncan Hawley is a native of Sheffield, born and brought up in Wadsley on the northern edge of the city, overlooking the industry in the Don Valley. One of his abiding memories of his youth is the sound of regular thumps from drop forges that drifted up from the valley. As Ken Hawley’s son you might expect him to be well-versed on tools – but he readily admits he knows ‘nowt’ about tools, although he probably imbibed more about Sheffield tools and its industrial history than most. He always refers to a turnscrew, never a screwdriver (which is an American term).
Duncan attended High Storrs School, then studied geology at UCL, Aberystwyth and Oxford, then followed a varied career as a geography and geoscience educator in schools, field centres, universities, curriculum development and teacher education. He is known for his work on teaching physical geography. Throughout, he maintained an interest in the history of geology, and probably inherited something of his father’s collecting trait as he now holds a collection of early geological maps and other artefacts.
Duncan is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London and Chairperson of the History of Geology Group and regularly publishes on the history of geology. Additionally, he is active in geoheritage and geoconservation as Chairperson of the Sheffield Area Geology Trust and he keeps his hand in with local industrial heritage as a trustee of the Ken Hawley Collection Trust.

'150 Years of the Telephone'
2026-04-01 19:00 - 21:00 | BIRMINGHAM Think Tank, Birmingham Science Museum,, Curzon Street, Birmingham, West Midlands, B4 7XG
Photo Credit: United States patents (in public domain)
Joining us IN PERSON – just turn up, there’s no need to register
This is a joint event with Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum
On 10 March 1876, 150 years ago, Alexander Graham Bell made what is usually considered to be the first telephone call, when he spoke the words “Mr. Watson—Come here—I want to see you” into his experimental apparatus.

To mark this anniversary, Newcomen Midlands, in a change to the usual format of our meetings, will be showing two videos produced by the Connections Musem in Seattle, USA, that describe how Bell submitted his patent, and how his first transmitter (microphone) and receiver (earpiece) worked.
The films show the museum’s attempts to make a working replica of his original apparatus.

'A plain substantial piece of workmanship: the marine compound engine & the tramp ship in 19C Britain' by Dr Oliver Carpenter
2026-04-15 18:00 - 19:30 | LONDON Alan Baxter Gallery, 75 Cowcross St, Clerkenwell, London, EC1M 6EL
This event is both an in-person and on-line event. No need to register – just come along or click this zoom link to join on-line.
The ‘tramp’ ship was created and constructed as a distinct type of merchant vessel in the 1870s and 1880s by shipbuilders and shipowners operating predominantly out of ports and rivers in the North East of England.
To explain the construction of tramp shipping in this period, this lecture explores the key technology that really made ‘tramping’ across the oceans a viable, economical and profitable venture.
Dr Oliver Carpenter‘s argument is that the adoption and use of the marine compound engine by shipowners created the ‘tramp’ class of merchant steam ships for the first time in a new and rapidly-growing sector in British shipping.
About the Speaker
Dr Oliver Carpenter is Curator of Infrastructure & Built Environment at the Science Museum in London. He is responsible for the national collections of Building Construction; Civil Engineering; Docks & Diving; Electricity Supply; Firefighting; Gas Industry; Heating, Cooling & Ventilation; Lighting; Locks & Fastenings; Nuclear Energy and Sewerage & Sanitation.
Oliver was Lead Curator of Energy Revolution at The Adani Green Energy Gallery – a major new permanent gallery about the low-carbon energy transition, which opened at the Science Museum in 2024. Before joining the Science Museum in 2015, he was a Collections Research Volunteer at Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust and Associate Lecturer in History of Science, Technology and Medicine at University of Kent.
Oliver has a PhD in History of Technology and has published on the history of the British merchant shipping industry in the late-19th and early 20th centuries. He is a member of the Newcomen Society Council.

'The Anatomy of an Iron Works. A detailed exploration of the Park Gate Iron Works between 1847 & 1859' by David Boursnell
2026-04-27 18:30 - 20:00 | SHEFFIELD Kelham Island Museum, Alma Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S3 8RG
Photo Credit: Matt Buck | Creative Commons
Joining us IN PERSON – just turn up, there’s no need to register
Joining us ON-LINE – click this zoom link (Passcode [REDACTED])
The Park Gate Iron Works in Rotherham started in 1823 as a tin plate works. In 1833, a group of Birmingham businessmen took over and renamed it the Birmingham Tin Plate Company. In 1838, the company recruited new investors to expand the business and built a blast furnace to produce their own iron.
In 1844, Charles Geach and Samuel Beale bought the business, and the company was renamed Samuel Beale and Co. In order to manage the business from their head office in Birmingham, they collected detailed monthly information about the production process, including the amount and cost of the raw materials as well as all the operational costs. The figures were recorded in four small pocket books covering the years 1847 to 1859 and transferred to the head office.
At the peak, the notebooks record the figures from xx coal mines, xx ironstone mines, 5 blast furnaces on 4 sites, puddling furnaces, three rolling mills and various forges. These figures enable us to draw a detailed picture of the process of making iron at Park Gate.
Rails remained the company’s biggest product, but the company diversified into ship plates and supplied all the plates for Brunel’s SS Great Eastern, including the largest plates ever rolled at that time. Based on this experience, they made rolled armour plates for the Crimean War and were the first company to overcome the technical difficulties of this process.
About the Speaker
David Boursnell is a published author & researcher of Naval Armour – both manufacturers & manufacturing, and a consultant to Kelham Island Industrial Museum, Sheffield

'The Dickinson Memorial Lecture' by Bridget Eickhoff
2026-05-13 18:00 - 19:30 | LONDON Alan Baxter Gallery, 75 Cowcross St, Clerkenwell, London, EC1M 6EL
Photo Credit: Image courtesy of the Julia Elton Collection
This event is both an in-person and on-line event. No need to register – just come along or click this zoom link to join on-line.
The Historical & Current Challenges of Gauging & their Impact on the Operations of Railways & Canals
Bridget Eickhoff will start this presentation with some of the concerns regarding tunnels for the early railway builders and look at some of the magnificent structures that these engineers produced.
She will then consider the challenges that have emerged in more recent times, from 1970s to the present day, both in Great Britain and internationally, and how railway gauging engineers have been continually innovating to rise to these challenges.
Bridget will also look briefly at the different but related issues with gauging of canals.
About the Speaker
Bridget Eickhoff is Principal Infrastructure Engineer at Rail Safety and Standards Board and Honorary Professor of Railway Interface Engineering at the University of Birmingham (Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education) where she supports the MSc programmes.
She has extensive experience in railway vehicle-track interaction and wheel-rail contact, including the study of derailment mechanisms, track forces and deterioration, gauge clearance methods, related standards and approval processes.
Bridget has been involved in the development of GB and international standards in associated areas as well as supporting a number of research and innovation projects. She is also a past Chair of the IMechE Railway Division.

'Industry and Innovation in Oxford'
2026-07-11 10:30 - 15:30 | OXFORD Thom Building, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 3PJ, United Kingdom
An in-person only event – tickets available via Eventbrite
Lunch included: Members £25, Non-members £30, Students £15
This day of talks delves into some of the fascinating technical and engineering history of Oxford and its region:

Detroit-on-Thames: the origins of car making in Oxford and the rise of the Cowley factory (Maurice East)
Combe Mill: a workshop for the Blenheim Estate (Richard Stone)
Mechanicks in the universitie: how engineering came to Oxford (Richard Darton)
A brief history of printing in Oxfordshire (Richard Lawrence)
Allen’s of Oxford: from steam ploughs to motor mowers (Jonathan Brown)
Watermills of the Oxfordshire Thames (Brian Eade)
