Sir Denis Rooke was the Company’s second Master (1985-86) and was President of the Fellowship of Engineering (1986-1991), the original name of what is now the Royal Academy of Engineering. This year it will be fifteen years since he died. Through the facilitation of the Worshipful Company of Engineers, the Royal Academy of Engineering now has his medals on display at Prince Philip House.

The most prestigious item is the Prince Philip Gold Medal inscribed “The Fellowship of Engineering The Prince Philip Medal  ” on the front and “For exceptional contribution to engineering  Sir Denis Rooke CBE FRS FREng 1992” on the back, which was presented by Prince Philip in a private audience at Buckingham Palace.

Two items are not included in the medals on display—Sir Denis’ Order of Merit Badge (right) which had to be returned to Buckingham Palace—and his Past Master’s Badge which was donated to the Museum of London. The Order of Merit is in the gift of the Monarch. Current members of the Order include Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Member of the Livery Dame Ann Dowling, and Sir James Dyson. The Royal Academy of Engineering’s profile of Sir Denis Rooke has more information on some of the other medals.

The full text of the display board is reproduced below.

Diana and I were pleased to make donations from his and Lady Rooke’s estates to several charities including the Engineers’ Trust which has contributed to awards and an Almoner’s fund; Loughborough University (where Sir Denis was Chancellor and is also the custodian of his archives) which funded three new machine tools for its STEM Laboratory; and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

IPM Peter Blair-Fish