|
|
Microscope Museum Collection of antique microscopes and other
scientific instruments |
|
|
|
|
|
Microscope 238 (Elliott Brothers; family microscope; c. 1860)
William Elliott founded a business in 1800 as a maker of drawing
instruments. By 1807, William moved the business to High Holborn and, by 1816
the firm was manufacturing items such as telescopes and barometers. In 1850
he moved to 56 Strand, London, and took his sons Charles and Frederick
William into the partnership. William Elliott died in 1853 and his sons
continued the business as Elliott Bros. Between 1858 and 1863 the company’s
address was 30 Strand, London, and moved to 112 St. Martin’s Lane and 449 Strand
in 1864. The company began manufacturing electrical instruments in the second
half of the 19th century and, in 1893, they amalgamated with
Theiler & Co, telegraph and instrument makers. After a long history, the
company was taken over by G.E.C in 1967 and by Fisher Controls Ltd. in 1979.
In the later 1980s they were taken over by Plessey, later Siemens Plessey.
Microscope 238 is engraved with ‘Elliott Bros, 30 Strand, London’ and
should be dated to c. 1860. It is unclear if Elliott Brothers were the makers
or only retailers of this microscope, as identical instruments were featured
in the catalogues of several other companies of the time (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Family microscope as engraved in W.
McAllister’s 1867 catalogue (A), J Queen’s 1870 and 1872 catalogues (B), and
in the 1859 J. King’s book ‘The microscopist’s companion: a popular manual
of practical microscopy’ (C) References Gloria
Clifton (1993). An Introduction to the History of Elliott Brothers up to
1900,” Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society 36: 2 - 7. LAST
EDITED: 22.01.2022 |
