Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

 

Microscope slides box by Benn Franks Limited (1950s)

A wooden box with a metal lock Description automatically generatedA wooden box with a label Description automatically generatedA wooden box with a lid open Description automatically generated with medium confidenceA wooden box with slides inside Description automatically generated

Microscope slides box by Benn Franks Limited. The box contains a label with the inscription “OPTICIANS, Benn Franks Ltd, ESTABLISHED 1798”. Benn Franks was born in Manchester in 1862, the seventh of the ten children, and by 1891 he became an optician living at 88 Bury New Road Salford. In 1895 he married Helena Mindlesohn and they settled in Hull. Benn Franks Opticians had branches in that city as well as in Doncaster, Hanley and Oldham. The company was listed in several Trade Directories and advertised in the Staffordshire Sentinel in 1915. Benn Franks died in Hull in 1940.

Note: item kindly donated by Margaret Brown (Cumbria, England) in July 2024.