The Iron and Steel Institute was a British association originally organized by the iron trade of the north of England.
Its object was the discussion of practical and scientific questions connected with the manufacture of iron and steel.
The first meeting of the institute took place in London, February 25, 1869.
There were two general meetings each year, one in May, in London, and one in autumn in other cities, not always in Great Britain, for the institute has met in Paris, Vienna, Brussels, Düsseldorf and New York.
Beginning in 1874 it annually presented the Bessemer Gold Medal, for some invention or notable paper.