040 REVIEW / BOOK
100 YEARS... AND
STILL GOING STRONG
Reflections on the Last One Hundred Years of Lighting in Great Britain
By David Loe and Rosemary McIntosh
The Society of Light and Lighting. London. 2009. 112p. £15
Book Review by D.L. DiLaura
are often described, the focus remains the ing of the British journal “Lighting Research
Illuminating Engineering Society and the and Technology” in 1969 is described, as
people who formed it, served it, promoted well as the establishment of the Research
it, and changed it. Clearly the authors had Centre at Capenhurst in Cheshire by The
access to many colleagues with long memo- Electricity Council. The Research Centre
ries, to previously written reminiscences, was responsible for much of the lighting
and to the records of the organizations they research that resulted in Electricity Council
describe. The book benefits from these and Illuminating Engineering Society publi-
details. cations and standards of the time.
The century is broken into five chapters Of particular interest in these chapters is
covering the years 1908–1909, 1910–1945, the candid discussion of the events and indi-
1946–1978, 1979–2008, and the future. viduals that eventually led to the merger
Considerable detail is presented in the first of the Illuminating Engineering Society with
chapter about Leon Gaster, his publica- the Institute of Heating and Ventilating
tion “The Illuminating Engineer”, and the Engineers to form the Chartered Institution
important role he and it played in the es- of Building Services (CIBS) and eventually,
tablishment of the Illuminating Engineering after a row with The Council of Engineering
Society. The parallel roles of Louis Marks, Institutions about the name of the organiza-
E. Levenworth Elliot, and “The Illuminating tion, The Chartered Institution of Building
This book is a centenary celebration publi- Engineer” in the United States, is striking. Services Engineers (CIBSE). The authors
cation marking the founding of the Illumi- This part of the book conveys the nature of leave no doubt as to how difficult this
nating Engineering Society in Great Britain. lighting at the start of the 20th century, the merger was, how uncertain the outcome,
Its subtitle makes clear its focus on that wide variety of technologies involved, and and
organisation: “The Illuminating Engineering the wide interests of the individuals who how great the cost. With this merger, the
Society to The Society of Light and Lighting came together on that evening in November Illuminating Engineering Society became the
(1909– 2009).” Its foreword makes clear its of 1909 to establish a new organisation. Lighting Division of the CIBSE, the publi-
intended tone: “. . . the publication (is) to Indeed, the cover of the first volume of cation of Light and Lighting ceased, and
be a memento of the first one hundredyears Gaster’s publication makes it clear that membership narrowed and decreased.
of organised lighting, ranging from the birth lighting was provided by an array of tech- Chapter four ends with, among other things,
of the IES in 1909 to its Centenary.” Though nologies: oil, gas, acetylene, electric arc, a description of how and why the Light-
claimed to have a very modest aim and “not and electric incandescent sources. ing Division was established as a separate
be a serious history”, the book presents The advancements of technology, standards, company, though owned by the CIBSE, and
valuable information, insights, and context and the practice of illuminating engineer- renamed The Society of Light and Lighting.
for events that reveal the development of ing are detailed in the second chapter. Included here is a summary of the later
lighting in Great Britain, viewed through the During this period the British Illuminating publications of the Society, a list of the
prism of a history of an organisation. Engineering Society began to produce two recipients of its highest honor, The Light-
The presentation is informal and clear, publications rather than just one (“The ing Award, and a list of presidents of the
proceeding chronologically through the Illuminating Engineer”): “Transactions of organisation since its founding in 1909.
century by way of small sections, often only the Society” and “Light and Lighting.” The This book recounts in a detailed and inter-
a few paragraphs in length. No attempt growth of the British lighting industry in esting way the role that a society of lighting
is made to connect these sections into a the years between the two world wars is professionals has had in the development
seamless narrative and so the book has a described in terms of technology (especially of Britain’s lighting industry, and thus is a
conversational quality and is, as the first the development of the fluorescent lamp) valuable addition to the written history of
author makes clear in the foreword “a pot- and the expanding reach of the Illuminating the lighting professions.
pourri of events, and a reflection on people Engineering Society beyond its London base. www.cibse.org/sll
and developments that shaped the British During the time covered by the third and
lighting profession.” Though larger issues fourth chapters the development and found-
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