The Society's 25th Annual General Meeting took place on Saturday 5 July at King's College, Strand Campus, next to Somerset House by Waterloo Bridge. It was preceded by a mini conference on Instruments and the Guilds, held at Glazier's Hall on Friday 4 July.
This splendid loving cup was presented to the Society by the Master Scientific Instrument Maker. Our Chairman gallantly quaffed the first mouthful of whisky from it.
Retired solicitor and member of the Cutlers Company, Keith Hinde gave the meeting a fascinating introduction to the historic system of London guilds and livery companies, including 'the bits you won't read in the books'.
David Wallis was speaking for the second consecutive year on his fascinating career in the scientific instrument trade including his hilarious encounter with coin-operated telescopes on the Isle of Man. They stopped working but still took the holiday makers' threepenny bit coins!
Gloria Clifton presented on her 'work in progress' researching British scientific instrument makers from 1850-1914.
Neil Handley demonstrated the link between instrument makers and the Spectacle Makers Company. The unofficial seal of 1810 was designed by Henry Lawson, who had no problem with using dividing compasses and a terrestrial globe as symbols for the company.
Sir George White gave a two-hour tour of the Clockmakers' Museum at Guildhall.
Allan Mills' presentation was part lecture, part interactive experiment.
David Bryden described the difficult choice facing inventors of scientific instruments in the late 18th and early 19th centuries...an expensive patent application or a submission in the hope of a token reward from the RSA.
Sculptress Joanna Migdal described the emotional and artistic aspect to the design of contemporary sundials.
To mark the Society’s 25th anniversary, the 2008 Annual General Meeting was extended to a two-day programme. There were two prestige venues, both of them boasting a fine 'River Room', so members had no excuse not to socialise by the Thames in July!
In recent years, the Society has established a good relationship with the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers (WCSIM), a Livery Company of the City of London formed in 1955 by members of the industry, with the support of the Clockmakers and the Spectacle Makers companies. For more information on the WCSIM and its activities, see the SIS Bulletin 85 (June 2005), page 24, or the Company's website
On Friday 4 July, we invited members to a series of talks on the history of instrument making and the London guilds. The setting was the magnificent Glazier’s Hall alongside London Bridge. Originally built in 1808 as a warehouse at the then heart of the Port of London, it is now owned jointly by the WCSIM with two other City Livery Companies, the Glaziers & Painters of Glass, and the Launderers. Lunch was served in the River Room, which afforded a splendid view of the river Thames.
The day's proceedings were followed by an optional guided museum tour led by the Honorary Curator of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers.
The photograph above shows the outgoing Chairman and the Master Scientific Instrument Maker making the formal vote of thanks at the end of the tour of the Clockmakers' Museum.
On Saturday 5 July, we returned to King’s College, where we also had last year’s AGM. We started with the by now traditional series of talks, this time by two of our members and one guest speaker, Joanna Migdal, who is an authority on sundials. In his illustrated keynote address after lunch, our President discussed the Society’s past and future, its aims, achievements and challenges. we were delighted that he journeyed from Switzerland to share this event with us.
The photograph above shows a section of the delegates waiting for the AGM to commence on the Saturday afternoon
Paolo's Presidential address was a witty assessment of the Society's activities over the past 25 years and the advances in instrument studies that have transformed the academic study of the history of science in that time.
Programme
Friday 4 July: Mini-conference on 'Instruments and the Guilds'
Jointly organised by the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers (WCSIM) and the Scientific Instrument Society (SIS)
Location: Glaziers Hall, 9 Montague Close, London Bridge SE1 9DD
10.30 Arrival, coffee
11.00 Introductions on behalf of the SIS and the WCSIM
11.20 Keith Hinde, ‘The Evolution of the London Livery Companies’
12.10 David Wallis, ‘A Life in Instrument Making: from Apprentice to Russia’
13.00 Lunch in the River Room
14.20 Gloria Clifton, Head of the the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, on Instrument Makers in the London Guilds 1850-1914 - New Research
15.10 Neil Handley, ‘More Than "A Blessing to the Aged": The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers’
16.00 Tea
17.00 Guided tour of the Clockmakers’ Museum by the Keeper, Sir George White. Location: Guildhall Library, London EC2P 2EJ
A note on the speakers:
- Keith Hinde has written a history of the Worshipful Company of Solicitors and has also compiled a descriptive catalogue of the London-made knives in the collection of the Worshipful Company of Cutlers.
- David Wallis has spent a lifetime in the instrument-making business and is a former Master of the WCSIM.
- Gloria Clifton is Head of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Her best known publication is the Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers, c. 1550-1851 (London, 1995).
- Neil Handley is the Curator of the British Optical Association Museum, London which also provides a museum service for the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers, of which he is a Liveryman
Registration fee: £25.
This included coffee and tea and finger buffet lunch.
The Clockmakers’ Company is the oldest surviving horological institution in the world. Its museum, founded in 1813, constitutes the oldest collection specifically of clocks, watches and sundials in existence. The guided tour by the Keeper, Sir George White, was limited to 25 (maximum 30) on a first-come, first-served basis. Cost £5. Participants made their own way to the Guildhall (20 minutes walk from the Glaziers Hall; one stop on the Underground; taxi)
Saturday 5 July : Annual conference and AGM
Location: King’s College, Strand, London
10.30 Arrival, coffee
11.00 Allan Mills, ‘Inversion of the image in the eye: a practical demonstration originated by Leonardo da Vinci’
11.30 David Bryden, ‘The Society Instituted at London for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, and the evaluation of scientific instruments, 1760-1839’
12.15 Joanna Migdal, illustrated talk on sundials
13.00 Lunch in the River Room
14.00 Paolo Brenni, Presidential keynote address
15.00 AGM
16.00 End of programme
Registration: £30, to include coffee and hot buffet lunch.
**NOTE: There was a discount for those who registered for both events: £50 total**
Additional information on venues:
The Clockmakers’ Museum in the Guildhall Library
King’s College University of London, Strand Campus next to Somerset House by Waterloo Bridge. This is some ten minutes' walk from Trafalgar Square / Charing Cross Station. On the first floor of King’s Building, with its splendid, recently renovated Chapel, is Lecture Room 2C, where we will have the talks and the AGM. At the far end of the corridor is the River Room, where coffee and lunch were served.