The Institution of Professionals, Managers and Specialists was founded on 1 January 1919 as the Professional Alliance, H.M. Civil Service, changing to the Institution of Professional Civil Servants later in the same year and deriving from the Federation of Professional Officers (Admiralty) founded in 1918. It remained a virtually federal body with affiliated associations in various Civil Service departments until 1945 when new rules involving a move towards branch structure were endorsed. In 1969 the Institution of Professional Civil Servants amalgamated with the Society of Technical Civil Servants and in 1970 with the Medical Staff Association. As a result of privatisation and the use of agencies and contractors members of the Institution were increasingly to be found outside the Civil Service which led to the adoption of the Institution of Professionals, Managers and Specialists as the union's title in 1989.
J C McLauchlan (1912-1999) spent most of his civil service career as a Principal Scientific Officer at RPE Westcott. He joined the Institution of Professional Civil Servants in the 1940's, and held a variety of offices at local and departmental level. He served on the Institution's National Executive Committee for many years and was deputy vice-chairman in 1967, vice-chairman from 1968-1970 and chairman from 1970-1972. McLauchlan undertook a great deal of work for individual members and on the National Executive Committee he made a particular contribution to the training programme. He was elected an honorary member of the Institution in 1977.
From the guide to the Papers of James Charles McLauchlan, Institution of Professional Civil Servants, 1947-1985, (Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick Library)
