Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

 

      

Microscope 137 (R & J Beck; ‘British Students’ microscope No. 55; c. 1903)

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R & J Beck occupy an especially important place in the history of the British microscope manufacturing with its beginning established in London, by Richard Beck (1827 - 1866) in association with James Smith (1800 – 1873), and later to be joined by his brother Joseph Beck. Richard and Joseph Beck were nephews of Joseph Jackson Lister, who was a respected British optician and physicist who experimented with achromatic lenses and perfected an optical microscope. In commissioning the manufacture of his improved microscope, Lister worked with James Smith, an employee of the instrument-making firm of William Tulley, to create the stand. James Smith went on to establish his own optical instruments workshop in 1837. Through this relationship, Lister arranged for his nephew, Richard Beck to be an apprentice under Smith in 1843. In 1847, James Smith entered into partnership with Richard Beck, and the company was re-named Smith & Beck. In 1854, the company was renamed to Smith, Beck and Beck, as Richard Beck's brother Joseph Beck joined the company in 1851. James Smith retired in 1865 and the company became R & J Beck and this name lasted for long time. In 1866, Richard Beck died at an early age of 39, and Joseph Beck carried on the business. In 1895 the company became a limited partnership (R & J Beck Ltd). By 1968, the company was a subsidiary of the Ealing Corporation of USA. In 2019, Beck Optronic Solutions Ltd is a descendent of the former R & J Beck Ltd. Microscope 137 is from R & J Beck Ltd and date from c. 1903. The instrument is signed ‘R & J Beck Ltd, London’ and has the serial number 25377. This microscope is known as the ‘British Students’ microscope No. 55 (Figure 1). The wooden box of this instrument contains a label from the retailer “Clarkson’s, Optical Stores, 338 High Holborn, London”. 

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Figure 1. Beck’s ‘British Students’ microscope No. 55, as engraved in a 1910s catalogue from the company.

 

 

Reference

R & J Beck (1894) Illustrated catalogue of microscopes

James Smith, 1800 – 1873 (http://microscopist.net/SmithJ.html), last accessed on 12.08.2020

R. and J. Beck (https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/R._and_J._Beck), last accessed on 12.08.2020

 

LAST EDITED: 25.10.2020