The Iron Ring

Montreal, 1925

The idea came from H. E. T. Haultain, a mining-engineering professor at the University of Toronto, who asked Rudyard Kipling to write the text of the calling. Haultain held the first ceremony on 25 April 1925 at the University Club in Montreal; a second followed in Toronto on 1 May 1925. The body that runs the ceremony, the Corporation of the Seven Wardens, was formally incorporated in 1938.

To verify: Each detail against the Corporation of the Seven Wardens’ own history pages and Engineers Canada’s centenary article, which we could not open; Who the first seven Wardens were: one source we saw says past presidents of the Engineering Institute of Canada, Wikipedia says the name honours the first seven presidents of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineers

A reminder, not a licence

The ring is meant as a reminder of an engineer’s obligations and ethics, and the facets on its outer face can drag on the paper as an engineer writes or draws. It is worn on the little finger of the working hand. It is not a licence: the right to practise is decided by the provincial and territorial licensing bodies. A popular story says the first rings were made from the fallen Quebec Bridge; that is a myth, and the first batch was made by First World War veterans at the Christie Street Military Hospital in Toronto.

To verify: Kip Wedel’s own account of where the first rings were made

Not for sale

The ring is given at the ceremony, and retired engineers or their families are asked to return it. Most camps now give stainless-steel rings; only the Toronto camp still offers a choice of iron or steel. We tell it as a sign people wear for a whole working life. We will not make or sell a copy, and we make no promise about anyone’s career.