Professional society founded as The Society of Telegraph Engineers in 1871. It was renamed the The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IET) in 1887. In 1924 the institution obtained from the Privy Council the right for corporate members to describe themselves as Chartered Electrical Engineers. It was registered as a charity in 1963, and joined with the Institution of Incorporated Engineers (IIE) in 2006 to form the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).