On the eve of the funeral of HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, it is worth recalling the day when the Duke attended the Douglas Bomford Memorial Lecture staged by the Institution of Agricultural Engineers (IAgrE) writes Chris Biddle.

 

Held at the National College of Agricultural Engineering (NCAE), Silsoe on 17 October 1979 before an invited audience, the event formed part of a day when the Duke had been shown the work being carried out by the National Institute of Agricultural Engineering (NIAE). He also visited the National College to talk to students and met IAgrE staff, all three organisations sharing facilities at Silsoe.

 

The First Douglas Bomford Memorial Lecture was first given in 1975 in memory of former IAgrE President and agricultural engineer who developed the machinery range that still carries his name today. 

 

The lecture soon gained status. The Second Lecture was given by Sir Peter Vanneck, the Lord Mayor of London at the Mansion House in 1978. Vanneck was a former Royal Naval officer, fighter pilot – and agricultural engineer. He had joined Ransomes after retiring from the RAF in 1973, was appointed the 650th Lord Mayor of London in 1973.  His lecture was called ‘British Agricultural Engineering – a Service to the World’

 

The Third Lecture, attended by the Duke of Edinburgh, was given by Dr F E Jones, the President of the Engineering Industries Association on ‘An Economic Success in Agricultural Engineering’ which compared the financial achievements of 12 international manufacturers which highlighted the fact that British companies fared very favourably with the best companies worldwide.  

 

 

Prince Philip was widely credited with saving British engineering after the war. In an interview he said “The UK was skint and the only way we were going to recover was through engineering”.  In 1976, he was a prime mover in the creation of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and each year presented the Academy’s highest award, the MacRobert Award.

 

In 1985, there were joint winners of the MacRobert Award, Rolls Royce for its Transparent Engine for aircraft, and the National Institute of Agricultural Engineering (NIAE) for its work on forage conditioning. The Duke of Edinburgh presented the Award to John Matthews, Director of NIAE and President. Elect of the Institution of Agricultural Engineering.

 

The Duke’s lifelong commitment to engineering and innovation has been well-documented, as has his observation that “Everything not invented by God, was invented by engineers."