Baroness Beryl Platt of Writtle
Baroness Platt is the Founding Patron of WISE and a role model to all girls who are thinking of following a career in engineering.
When the young Beryl Myatt arrived at Girton College, Cambridge, she found herself one of only five girls amongst 250 men reading Mechanical Sciences, now known as Engineering. In addition to this, she had not previously been taught technical drawing and found it difficult, so she had to do two hours a day but soon became more skilful!
In 1943 women were not allowed to graduate with the same honours as their male counterparts, so she was not awarded a degree, only a ‘Title of degree’. Women were finally admitted to degrees at Cambridge in 1948.
Shortly after graduating, Beryl took a job at Hawkers Experimental Flight Test Department.
‘I arrived in the Hawkers experimental flight test department at Langley, Buckinghamshire, and you could see by the look in the men’s eyes, My god there’s a war on and we’ve got a woman engineer too! So I couldn’t ever let anyone down. We were testing and producing fighters (Hurricanes, Typhoons Tempests and Furies) which really made a difference to winning the war.’
She soon dispelled any misgivings they might have had as she made friends with them through her good sense of humour, hard work and intelligent questioning.
Following the end of the war, Beryl Myatt went on to work at the newly formed British European Airways in their research department where she was primarily involved with air safety. Her number one priority was to make sure aircraft could land safely if an engine were to fail!
During the 1970s, and now Beryl Platt, she chaired the Essex County Council Education committee and has since served on various other national bodies for technical education. Her personal experiences ensure she is not only extremely aware of the key issues and potential solutions, but is also passionate about the future of engineering and technology in the UK.
In 1981 Beryl Platt was appointed to the House of Lords, choosing the name Baroness Platt of Writtle, after her home village in Essex. Lady Platt became the chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission in 1983. In 1984, as a result of encouragement from the Finniston Report, the EOC together with the Engineering Council set up WISE - Women into Science and Engineering.
Lady Platt is still an active member of the House of Lords and is on the Select Committee for Science and Technology
