# List of presidents of the Institution of Electrical Engineers

This is a list of presidents of the Institution of Electrical Engineers from its formation in 1871 until 2005, the date of amalgamation with the Institution of Incorporated Engineers to form the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Prior to 1889 the Institution was known as the Society of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians.

## List of presidents

Source: IET Archives

### 1871–1899

* 1872 Sir Charles William Siemens FRS
* 1873 Frank Ives Scudamore CB
* 1874 Sir William Thomson (Baron Kelvin of Largs) OM GCVO FRS
* 1875 Latimer Clark FRS
* 1876 Charles Vincent Walker FRS
* 1877 Sir Frederick Augustus Abel Bt KCB GCVO FRS
* 1878 Sir Charles William Siemens FRS (2nd term)
* 1879 Lieut-Colonel Sir John Underwood Bateman-Champain KCMG RE
* 1880 Sir William Henry Preece KCB FRS
* 1881 George Carey Foster FRS
* 1882 Major-General Charles Edmund Webber CB RE
* 1883 Willoughby Smith
* 1884 William Grylls Adams FRS
* 1885 Charles Ernest Paolo Della Diana Spagnoletti
* 1886 David Edward Hughes FRS
* 1887 Sir Charles Tilston Bright
* 1888 Edward Graves
* 1889 Sir William Thomson (Baron Kelvin of Largs) OM GCVO FRS (2nd term)
* 1890 John Hopkinson FRS
* 1891 Sir William Crookes OM FRS
* 1892 William Edward Ayrton FRS
* 1893 Sir William Henry Preece KCB FRS (2nd term)
* 1894 Alexander Siemens
* 1895 Colonel Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton CB FRS
* 1896 John Hopkinson FRS (2nd term)
* 1897 Sir Henry Christopher Mance CIE
* 1898 Sir Joseph Wilson Swan FRS
* 1899 Silvanus Phillips Thompson FRS

### 1900–1999

* 1900 John Perry FRS
* 1901 William Edward Langdon
* 1902 Sir James Swinburne Bt FRS
* 1903 Robert Kaye Gray
* 1904 Alexander Siemens (2nd term)
* 1905 Sir John Gavey CB
* 1906 Sir Richard Tetley Glazebrook KCB KCVO FRS
* 1907 Lord Kelvin (Sir William Thomson, (Baron Kelvin of Largs)) OM GCVO FRS (3rd term)
* 1908 Colonel Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton CB FRS
* 1908 William Morris Mordey
* 1909 Gisbert Kapp
* 1910–11 Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti FRS
* 1912–13 William Duddell CBE FRS
* 1914 Sir John Francis Cleverton Snell GBE
* 1915–16 Charles Pratt Sparks CBE
* 1917–18 Charles Henry Wordingham CBE
* 1919 Roger Thomas Smith
* 1920 Llewelyn Birchall Atkinson
* 1921 John Somerville Highfield
* 1922 Frank Gill OBE
* 1923 Alexander Russell FRS
* 1924 William Bradley Woodhouse
* 1925 Richard Alexander Chattock
* 1926 William Henry Eccles FRS
* 1927 Sir Archibald Page
* 1928 Lieut-Colonel Kenelm Edgcumbe
* 1929 Colonel Sir Thomas Fortune Purves OBE(Mil)
* 1930 Clifford Copland Paterson OBE
* 1931 John Muir Donaldson MC
* 1932 Edgar Walford Marchant
* 1933 Philip Vassar Hunter CBE
* 1934 William Mundell Thornton OBE
* 1935 John Macfarlane Kennedy OBE
* 1936 Henry Thomas Young
* 1937 Lieut-Colonel Sir A George Lee OBE MC
* 1938 Sir Arthur P M Fleming CBE
* 1939 Johnsone Wright
* 1940 James Robert Beard CBE
* 1941 Sir Noel Ashbridge
* 1942 Professor Cecil Lewis Fortescue OBE
* 1943 Colonel Sir Stanley Angwin KCMG KBE DSO MC TD
* 1944 Sir Harry Railing
* 1945 Dr Percy Dunsheath CBE
* 1946 Sir Vincent Ziani de Ferranti
* 1947 Percy Good CBE FCGI
* 1948 Thomas Graeme N Haldane
* 1949 Professor Eric Bailleul Moullin
* 1950 Sir Archibald Gill
* 1951 Sir John Hacking
* 1952 Colonel Bruce Hamer Leeson CBE TD
* 1953 Harold Bishop CBE
* 1954 Josiah Eccles CBE MM
* 1955 Sir George Nelson Bt
* 1956 Sir William Gordon Radley KCB CBE
* 1957 Thomas Edward Goldup CBE
* 1958 Sidney Edward Goodall CBE
* 1959 Sir Willis Jackson FRS
* 1960 Sir Hamish Maclaren KBE CB
* 1961 George Sail Campbell Lucas OBE
* 1962 Cecil Thomas Melling CBE
* 1963 Sir Albert Mumford KBE
* 1964 Olliver William Humphreys CBE
* 1965 Leonard Drucquer
* 1966 John Ashworth Ratcliffe CB CBE FEng FRS
* 1967 Sir Stanley Brown CBE FEng
* 1968 Professor John Millar Meek CBE FEng
* 1969 David Edmondson
* 1970 Henry George Nelson, Lord Nelson of Stafford FEng
* 1971 Professor John Flavell Coales CBE FEng FRS
* 1972 Sir Eric Eastwood CBE FRS
* 1973 Archibald George Milne
* 1974 James Henry Herbert Merriman CB OBE FEng
* 1975 Robert James Clayton CBE FEng
* 1976 Eric Stuart Booth CBE FEng FRS
* 1977 John McIntyre Ferguson CBE FEng
* 1978 James Redmond FEng
* 1979 Professor John Brown CBE FEng
* 1980 Air Marshal Sir Herbert Durkin KBE CB
* 1981 Sir Francis Tombs FEng
* 1982 John Banks FEng
* 1983 Maldwyn Noel John FEng
* 1984 Professor John Clifford West CBE FEng
* 1985 Admiral Sir Lindsay Bryson KCB FEng FRSE
* 1986 Dr Geoffrey Thomas Shepherd CBE
* 1987 Professor Eric Albert Ash CBE DSc FEng FRS
* 1988 Thomas Bryce McCrirrick CBE DSc FEng
* 1989 James Cadzow Smith CBE LLD FEng FRSE
* 1990 David Arthur Jones BSc PhD FEng
* 1991 Brian William Manley BSc DIC FCGI FEng
* 1992 Professor Peter John Lawrenson DSc FEng FRS
* 1993 Alan Walter Rudge OBE PhD FEng FRS
* 1994 Professor Sir David Evan Naunton Davies CBE DSc FEng FRS
* 1995 John Parnaby CBE PhD DEng DSc DTech D Univ FEng
* 1996 Robert Hawley DSc PhD BSc FEng
* 1997 David Jefferies CBE FEng
* 1998 Dr John Michael Taylor FRS FEng
* 1999 Dr Malcolm William Kennedy FREng

### 2000–2005

* 2000 Professor John Edwin Midwinter FREng FRS
* 2001 Professor Brian Mellitt FREng DIC
* 2002 Professor Michael John Howard Sterling FREng
* 2003 Sir David Brown FREng CEng BSc DMS
* 2004 Professor John O'Reilly FREng
* 2005 Sir John Chisholm FREng CEng (last president)
For presidents from 2005–present, see Presidents of the Institution of Engineering and Technology