The history of the British Calibration Service (1966 to 1985)

These pages form a central repository where detailed historical information about the British Calibration Service, from its formation in 1966 to the merger with NATLAS in 1985, can be collated for posterity.

This information is categorised into the areas shown in the links on this page.

Contributions to the site are very welcome. If you have any photographs of people or places, copies of early criteria documents or newsletters, pictures of typical equipment that would have been used in laboratories at the time or simply reminiscences from those days, please contact us using the email address in Contact Details at the foot of this page (to avoid automatic spam messages this is shown as a graphic image).

The Terms of Reference for the BCS Advisory Council on Calibration and Measurement were as follows:

To foster the establishment and review the operation of a comprehensive national service for the calibration of measuring instruments of all kinds, to consider the rules governing the approval of calibration laboratories, to encourage the teaching and improve the standing of measurement science and technology, to assist international collaboration in this field and to advise the Minister as necessary to achieve these aims.

Please note that this web site is privately maintained for reasons of historical interest and has no formal affiliation with the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), which is currently responsible for calibration accreditation in the UK. If you are looking for UKAS please click here.