History

7th September 1940

Founding Meeting – Polish Hearth Club in London – the first general meeting was held with the sound of sirens announcing bombing raids on London. The Association numbered 220 members. 

1941-43

The number of members increases to 1000. There are 11 professional branches and the Association of Polish Electricians SARP, together with Polish Engineers’ Associations in Scotland and Teheran are formed. In 1945, soldiers of the Polish 2nd Corps formed a further Association of Polish Engineers in Rome. The total number of members increases to above 5100. 

1945

2nd Corps soldiers form engineers Association in Rome. Total number of Institution members increases above 1500.

Main wartime accomplishments 

• Bringing together of all technical forces working towards victory over Germany 
• Polish Army Radio Workshop – ENIGMA 
• New inventions and improvements to existing war equipment (mine detectors, anti-aircraft cannon “Polsten”, submarine detection, miniaturisation of radio, tank periscope, aircraft bomb ejectors, etc.) 
• The founding and taking up of posts in; the Army Institute of Technology, Department of Technical Education of the Air Force Inspectorate, Bomb Disposal Engineers Research Department, the Centre for Group Technical Education, the Army Institute of Geography and the Polish Army Radio Workshop.  
• More than 800 members of the Association worked in British industry and technical institutions.

In 1942, a new Constitution was drafted. In addition to war-related activities, the Association formed a new sub-committee whose task was to appraise issues relating to life in post-war Poland, including that of higher education. This is how the Council for Academic Higher Education – RAST was established, and the Polish Polytechnic was launched – with the faculties of mechanical, engineering, electrical, chemical, mining and steel, architecture and economics. Up to 1947, RAST issued 180 engineering diplomas. Thereafter, the Polish Polytechnic was transformed into the Polish University College Association Limited – PUCAL. By the end of its existence PUCAL had issued 750 diplomas.  

In 1948 the Association, for formal reasons, transformed itself into The Institution of Polish Engineers in Great Britain and purchased, with the aid of funds provided by its members, its first headquarters; 148 Holland Road W14. “Engineer House” was home to all the professional sections together the administration of the Institution until 1953. The wartime and post-war period was also the time of defining the Institution’s mission statement, which has for the most part, remained unchanged to this day. 

In 1954, the Institution was involved in saving the Polish Library, which the British authorities wanted to liquidate after the closure of PUC (Polish University College). Public action in defence of the Library, organized by STP, saved the collection of books and documents that then found shelter in the PUCAL building at 5 Princess Gardens in South Kensington. STP also then moved its headquarters to this building.

In September 1958, the Institution released the first issue of the quarterly “Science and Technology” with a print run of over a thousand copies. The journal consisted of original articles, reports, reviews and monographs, as well as reprints from other journals. Among the authors were prof. dr J. Mazur (physicist) and engineers: B. Budziński (architect), T. Tchórzewski (electrical engineer), S. Ziębiński (mechanical engineer) and T. Prus-Chąciński (civil engineer).

In 1963, together with PUCAL, STP launched the initiative of building the Polish Social and Cultural Centre in London (POSK).

During the Institution’s Extraordinary General Meeting on 12th June 1964, STP resolved to donate all of its assets to POSK, in exchange securing for itself a minimal rent in the newly built centre. PUCAL handed over its property on a similar basis, and thus, together a large estate consisting of a number of large houses in the central districts of London was handed over. As a result of these decisions, many STP members got involved in the construction of POSK.

The building work started in March 1965. Of the 100 initial members of POSK, 35 were members of STP. The engineers felt that they were particularly responsible for the realisation of the project. From the moment the decision was taken, it took 10 years for POSK to be built. There were various challenges; financial, constructional, health & safety and as a result parts of the project had to be revised.

The determination of the members of the Institution and especially its Chair, Professor Roman Wajda, who tirelessly drove the project forward and who later became the first chairman of POSK, helped them to overcome all the hurdles associated with the Centre’s construction. A lot of money, effort and health of the founders was sacrificed in the process. Unfortunately professor Wajda died prematurely and did not witness the day when STP moved to POSK.

In September 1970, the 30th anniversary of STP coincided with the Congress of Contemporary Polish Science and Culture in Exile. Present were several hundred scientists and Poles displaced after the 2nd world war now living in almost all parts of the globe. Meetings and numerous exhibitions took place at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of Imperial College London. Preparations for the Congress took 3 years and the organising committee was chaired by the then chairman of STP who was also the chairman of POSK, Professor Roman Wajda. The committee worked in the ‘under-construction’ POSK, at which time and as part of the Congress, there was an exhibition of historical collections belonging to the Polish Library in London.

A few years later in 1974, the Institution organized a public exhibition of projects and work carried out by Polish technicians and engineers. The main goal of the project was the desire that work and achievements of Polish engineers outside of their homeland should not be forgotten. Since 1977, STP has had its own office in POSK. Thanks to the efforts of the Board and members of the Institution, the life of the organization, which for 10 years, had focused all of its efforts and resources on the construction of the Polish Centre, began again – readings, social events, monthly and occasional meetings once again became the main activity of STP.