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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260204T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260204T210000
DTSTAMP:20260523T193559
CREATED:20260203T092926Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260203T162607Z
UID:16770-1770231600-1770238800@www.newcomen.com
SUMMARY:'Before Valves: The Amazing Ingenuity of the "Electricians" before the Thermionic Valve' by Dr John Moyle
DESCRIPTION:Photo Credit: Wellcome Collection (1911 – Copyright free) \n\nJoining us IN PERSON – just turn up\, there’s no need to register\nJoining us ONLINE – click on this zoom link before the event to join in \n\n\n\nThis is a joint event with Thinktank\, Birmingham Science Museum \n\nMan’s ingenuity before the invention of the thermionic valve was amazing!  \nThis lecture will summarize the early methods of wireless transmission and reception & amplification. \nAbout the Speaker\nDr John Moyle is a Chartered Engineer\, retired physician & anaesthetist plus historian with a particular interest in telegraphy and medical technology.
URL:https://www.newcomen.com/activity/before-valves-the-amazing-ingenuity-of-the-electricians-before-the-thermionic-valve-by-dr-john-moyle/
LOCATION:BIRMINGHAM Think Tank\, Birmingham Science Museum\,\, Curzon Street\, Birmingham\, West Midlands\, B4 7XG
CATEGORIES:Shed Talks (Newcomen Online),UK - Midlands Branch
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.newcomen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/26-02-04_BeforeValves_1920x1280.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Newcomen - Midland Branch":MAILTO:midlands@newcomen.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260211T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260211T193000
DTSTAMP:20260523T193559
CREATED:20250915T144057Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250922T090709Z
UID:16537-1770832800-1770838200@www.newcomen.com
SUMMARY:'The Mercenary River' by Nick Higham
DESCRIPTION: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. \nToday we take water for granted. Turn a tap and the stuff gushes out. But for centuries London struggled to supply its citizens with reliable\, clean drinking water. \nNick Higham tells the story of London’s water from the Tudor era to the 20th century. It’s a tale of remarkable technological\, scientific and organisational breakthroughs\, but also one of greed and complacency\, high finance and low politics. London’s 19th century water companies operated a cartel which worked in their interests\, not their customers’. The water they supplied was overpriced\, deficient in quantity and frequently filthy – described by one scientist as “diluted sewage”. It took the best part of a century of campaigning to bring the water companies to heel. \nAbout the Speaker\nNick Higham is a writer and former journalist who is passionate about history. His first book\, The Mercenary River\, a history of London’s water supply\, was published to excellent reviews in 2022: The Telegraph gave it five stars\, The Mail called it “fascinating”\, Andrew Marr found it “original and gripping”. The book has made a timely contribution to the current debate about Britain’s water industry and the scandal of untreated sewage discharges\, and has been praised by figures as diverse as the campaigner Feargal Sharkey and the chairman of Thames Water. \nHis second book\, Mavericks: Empire\, Oil\, Revolution and the Forgotten Battle of World War One\, is published by Bloomsbury in October 2025. \nNick spent nearly 30 years as a BBC correspondent\, whenever possible smuggling history onto the airwaves in the guise of news.
URL:https://www.newcomen.com/activity/the-mercenary-river-by-nick-higham/
LOCATION:LONDON  Alan Baxter Gallery\, 75 Cowcross St\, Clerkenwell\, London\, EC1M 6EL
CATEGORIES:Shed Talks (Newcomen Online),UK - London Branch
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.newcomen.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/26-02-11_TheMercenaryRiver1920x1280.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Newcomen - London Branch":MAILTO:office@newcomen.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260223T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260223T200000
DTSTAMP:20260523T193559
CREATED:20260128T152803Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260128T152803Z
UID:16758-1771871400-1771876800@www.newcomen.com
SUMMARY:'Building the Shadow Factories' by Jonathan Aylen
DESCRIPTION:Joining us IN PERSON – just turn up\, there’s no need to register\nJoining us ON-LINE – click this zoom link (Passcode 888336) \nBritain’s military effort during World War 2 required a massive investment in manufacturing. Government-funded “Shadow factories” and “Agency Factories” were a key part of this huge capacity expansion.  The Government spent at least a quarter of a billion pounds at the time on new buildings\, new machinery and training\, often in locations far away from conventional manufacturing centres\, on factories run by 175 private firms.  These factories brought new technology and new production processes\, thereby accelerating the pace of wartime innovation. \nYet these new factories are themselves in the shadows.  Shadow factories are typically equated with new sites for building aircraft\, such as Yeadon in Yorkshire.  But shadow factory schemes spread much more widely across industry\, covering hidden sectors such as chemical warfare\, oil refining and ordnance manufacture\, as well as more obvious sectors such as aircraft components and aeroengines. \nThere is very little research on the selection\, design\, procurement and operation of these factories. Here we look at the broad shadow factory scheme\, using archive sources\, and then examine a factory for forging aircraft parts built in 1940 on a remote greenfield site at Distington\, Cumberland\, employing 3\,000 workers.  This was developed by a private firm\, High Duty Alloys\, on behalf of the Government. \nAbout the Speaker\nJonathan Aylen is an academic researcher who now specialises in the history of technology. He has written on the development of computer guidance systems for Cold War missiles\, the development of the first British atomic bomb and on computer control in the steel industry. His approach is to integrate oral history with unorthodox archive sources. Jonathan’s first exposure to computing was writing FORTRAN programmes for an ICL mainframe to support his research in economics. \nJonathan is a recent past President of the Newcomen society for the History of Engineering and Technology and his research output across a range of disciplines can be found here.
URL:https://www.newcomen.com/activity/building-the-shadow-factories-by-jonathan-aylen/
LOCATION:SHEFFIELD Kelham Island Museum\, Alma Street\, Sheffield\, South Yorkshire\, S3 8RG
CATEGORIES:Shed Talks (Newcomen Online),UK - South Yorkshire Branch
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.newcomen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/26-02-23_BuildingtheShadowFactories_1920x1280.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Newcomen - South Yorkshire Branch":MAILTO:meetings.syorks@newcomen.com
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260224T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260224T200000
DTSTAMP:20260523T193559
CREATED:20251009T102934Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260128T102131Z
UID:16629-1771957800-1771963200@www.newcomen.com
SUMMARY:'The Evolution of Railway Attitudes to Safety and Risk' by Ivor Lewis
DESCRIPTION:Photo Credit: Australian government licensed under Creative Commons \nAn in-person only event. No need to sign up\, just come along – all are welcome. \nThe talk considers and contrasts the public and company changes in attitudes to safety and risk of injury from Railway travel\, starting with the early plateway and tramway period. The changes in attitude when main line railways arrived in 1830 through to the end of the 19th century are analysed. It reviews how safety for the public and employees of railways evolved as society’s perception and acceptance of risk and injury changed. As railways developed\, how did those managing and checking railways react? How did rail companies\, writers\, literature\, newspapers government and society influencers respond? It will not re-cover ground already described in popular texts on railway accidents but will indicate where experience\, company management and popular literature influenced safety on the railways. The way the government’s railway acts and the railway inspectorate responded is outlined.  \nIt takes a generic rather than a detailed technological approach and suggests subjects requiring further study. \nThis talk was first given in a shorter form at the Early Railways 8 Conference in Sept 2025. \nAbout the Speaker\nIvor Lewis is a member of the Manchester Branch of Newcomen and a former computer hardware and software engineer and IT consultant. He studied Physics at London University but spent his working life in Computer and IT engineering. His longstanding interest in the history of railways and particularly railway mechanical engineering evolved into a wider interest in all forms of engineering history.  \nIvor is a member of several railway and line societies and has volunteered at the National Railway Museum behind the scenes on railway archives. He is a past Chairman of the Historical Model Railway Society and has spoken at three of the Early Railway conferences.  \nIvor is married with two grown up children and two grandchildren and lives near Crewe in Cheshire.
URL:https://www.newcomen.com/activity/the-evolution-of-railway-attitudes-to-safety-and-risk-by-ivor-lewis/
LOCATION:MANCHESTER The Friends Meeting House\, 6 Mount St\, Manchester\, M2 5NS\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:UK - North Western Branch
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.newcomen.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/26-02-24_EvolutionofRailwayAttitudestoSafetyandRisk_1920x1280.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Newcomen - North Western Branch":MAILTO:catherine.casson@manchester.ac.uk
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260225T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260225T180000
DTSTAMP:20260523T193559
CREATED:20250826T140342Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250901T091034Z
UID:16501-1772038800-1772042400@www.newcomen.com
SUMMARY:'Newcomen Society Annual General Meeting'
DESCRIPTION:This is an online meeting only open to all Newcomen members. Click on this zoom link to join. \nAnnual General Meeting for Newcomen Society members only.
URL:https://www.newcomen.com/activity/newcomen-society-annual-general-meeting/
LOCATION:Oxfordshire
CATEGORIES:All Regions,Shed Talks (Newcomen Online)
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.newcomen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Newcomen_Logo_Colour_1080x608-v2.jpg
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