{{Short description|British mechanical engineer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Kathleen Mary Cook | image =Kathleen_Cook_died_1971.jpg | birth_date = 25 August 1910 | birth_place = Wembley, England | death_date = 1971 | citizenship = British | education = La Convent of the Sainte Union des Sacres Coeurs, North London | occupation = Mechanical Engineer | employer = Apprentice at Hercules Engineering Company; Director of Hercules Aircraft Construction Co. Ltd; Founder member of Universal Equipment Co. Ltd; Owner of Kainder Ltd; Wilmer Engineering Co Ltd | organization = Women's Engineering Society | spouse = Dennis Goodwin }}'''Kathleen Mary Cook''' (25 August 1910–1971) was a mechanical engineer who was president of the Women's Engineering Society from 1955–1956.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kathleen Mary Cook|url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Kathleen_Mary_Cook|website=Grace's Guide to British Industrial History}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2019|title=75: Kathleen Cook|url=https://www.magnificentwomen.co.uk/engineer-of-the-week/75-kathleen-cook|website=Magnificent Women}}</ref> Her father, P. V. Cook, who was also a mechanical engineer, worked with the earliest aeroplane engines.<ref name=":4" />
== Early life and education == Kathleen Mary Cook was born in Wembley on 25 August 1910.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=imechearchive |date=2022-06-23 |title=FROM OUR MEMBERSHIP: KATHLEEN COOK (1910-1971) |url=https://imechearchive.wordpress.com/2022/06/23/from-our-membership-kathleen-cook-1910-1971/ |access-date=2022-06-24 |website=IMechE Archive and Library |language=en}}</ref> She educated at La Convent of the Sainte Union des Sacres Coeurs in North London and in Paris.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|date=1962|title=Mrs. D.I.H. Goodwin M.I.Mech.E.|url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_9.html|journal=The Woman Engineer|volume=9|issue=6 |pages=10}}</ref> In 1928 she became an apprentice at Hercule Engineering Company, London, her father's company,<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|date=1971|title=Remembering Kathleen Mary Cook|url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_11.html|journal=The Woman Engineer|volume=11|issue=3 |pages=3–4}}</ref> where she stayed for 7 years, completing her apprenticeship in 1933.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":0" />
== Career == During the Second World War, Cook and three of her brothers developed and ran a factory in Northholt, where they developed gun breech mechanisms and spare parts for aircraft.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":6" /> As a result of a government requested reorganisation, which Cook played a significant role in, production increased tenfold in four months. Cook remained in this role until the end of the war in 1945
In 1942 Cook became director of Hercules Aircraft Construction Co Ltd,<ref name=":1" /> and was a founder member of Universal Equipment Co Ltd, which was established in 1945.<ref name=":4" /> She invented and patented a mobile bed called the Kainder Mobile Bed and set up a company called Kainder Ltd in 1949.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal|date=1949|title=News of Members|url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_6.html|journal=The Woman Engineer|volume=6|issue=16 |pages=295}}</ref>
In 1951 she joined Wilman Engineering Co. Ltd, a small company making electronic equipment and automatic control units.<ref name=":5" /> She worked as chief mechanical engineer and chairman of the company,<ref name=":4" /> and helped it to survive financial difficulties.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|date=1954|title=News of Members|url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_7.html|journal=The Woman Engineer|volume=7|issue=12 |pages=15}}</ref> After raising capital, she was able to buy out her partners in the company and begin modernisation.<ref name=":6" />
In 1962, she was one of only ten female engineers who were entitled to designate themselves as 'Chartered Mechanical Engineer'.<ref name=":4" />
== Professional memberships == Cook was a fellow of the Institute of Production Engineering.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> She became a student member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers,<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|date=1956|title=News of Members|url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_7.html|journal=The Woman Engineer|volume=8|issue=1 |pages=22}}</ref> after being introduced by Verena Holmes. Holmes also proposed her as a full member many years later in 1955, with Caroline Haslett acting as an application referee.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Verena - Through the Eyes of her Friends|url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_9.html|journal=The Woman Engineer|volume=9|issue=13 |pages=2}}</ref> Cook was only the second woman, following Holmes, to hold full membership since it was set up in 1847.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":7" /> She was also the first female fellow of the Institute of British Foundrymen, and a member of the British Nuclear Society and the Royal Commonwealth Society.<ref name=":4" />
Cook joined the Women's Engineering Society (WES) in 1931.<ref name=":6" /> She joined the Council in 1936,<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1935|title=The Fourteenth Annual Conference|url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_4a.html|journal=The Woman Engineer|volume=4|issue=8 |pages=113}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|date=1943|title=Annual General Meeting: News of Members|url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_5.html|journal=The Woman Engineer|volume=5|issue=16 |pages=2}}</ref> on which she served for over 25 years.<ref name=":4" /> She became Vice-President in 1951 and was President from 1955-56.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal|date=1954|title=From the President - Greetings|journal=The Woman Engineer|volume=11|issue=15 |pages=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=1954|title=The 1954 W.E.S. Conference|url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_7.html|journal=The Woman Engineer|volume=7|issue=15 |pages=4}}</ref> She succeeded Dorothy Pile in the role and was in turn succeeded by Marjorie Bell.<ref name=":0" /> In her 1955 presidential address she talked about her work as a mechanical engineer in production and how an engineering plant is run.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1955|title=The 1955 W.E.S Presidential Address|url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_7.html|journal=The Woman Engineer|volume=7|issue=19 |pages=15–17}}</ref>
She wrote a number of articles for the WES journal called ''The Woman Engineer'', including one in 1935 reporting on a Shipping Engineering and Machinery Exhibition.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1935|title=Shipping, Engineering and Machinery Exhibition|url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_4a.html|journal=The Woman Engineer|volume=4|issue=4 |pages=50, 52}}</ref> She also produced a report on the inauguration of the Marchwood Power Station at which Princess Margaret officiated.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1957|title=The Inauguration of Marchwood Power Station by Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret|url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_7.html|journal=The Woman Engineer|volume=8|issue=6 |pages=14–15}}</ref> She was appointed advertising manager of ''The Woman Engineer'' in 1953.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|date=1953|title=Editorial|url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_7.html|journal=The Woman Engineer|volume=7|issue=8 |pages=1}}</ref>
== Personal life == Kathleen Cook married D H I Goodwin, a marine engineer, in 1957.<ref name=":4" />
She died in 1971 following a long illness.<ref name=":0" />
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Kathleen Mary}} Category:1910 births Category:1971 deaths Category:British mechanical engineers Category:Women's Engineering Society Category:People from Wembley Category:Presidents of the Women's Engineering Society Category:20th-century English women engineers Category:20th-century English engineers Category:Engineers from London