Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

Microscope 182 (Dollond & Co.; student microscope; c. 1900)

The Dollond business started in 1750 by Peter Dollond in Spitalfields, London. He was soon joined by his father John Dollond, in 1752, and together moved to The Strand in 1759. Peter moved to St. Paul’s Churchyard in 1765 and, in 1766, Peter’s younger brother John Dollond Jr. became a partner. John Dollond Jr. died in 1804 and in the following year Peter formed a partnership with his nephew, George Huggins (who changed his name to George Dollond). Peter did not have any surviving sons and the business was passed to his nephew and business partner George Huggins Dollond in 1819. George died in 1852 and left the business to his nephew, also named George Huggins, who then changed his surname to Dollond. This second George died in 1866, leaving the business to his son, William Dollond. William sold the Dollond business in 1871 to John Chant, a former employee, and the name became ‘Dollond & Co’. By that time, the company focussed on products such as binoculars and eyeglasses and most microscopes sold appear to have been made by other manufacturers. Sometime afterward, Chant took Tyson Crawford as a partner. The partnership was dissolved in 1892 and Tyson Crawford continued the business as Dollond & Co. In 1927, the company was acquired by James Aitchison, becoming ‘Dollond and Aitchison’. Other owners followed, until the 2009 acquisition by Boots Optical. The Dollond business name ended in 2015 when the owner Boots Optical rebranded all of their Dollond and Aitchison shops as ‘Boots’. Microscope 182 is a student microscope engraved with ‘Dollond, London’ and should be dated to c. 1900. The wooden box of the instrument contains also a label with the name of the company, with the same layout used by the company during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. These types of microscopes were probably made by some large manufacturer and retailed by several companies at the time (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Microscope for school use as featured in an 1894 Townson & Mercer catalogue.