As the purpose of this lecture is to present to you a general picture of the Company, I think it will be appropriate to tell you a little about the historical background before passing on to describe some of our activities. Many people have asked me how it is that the firm carries the name of two distinguished men, both Fellows of the Royal Society, and what the connexion is between them. Like many good things our origin is in Ireland, and we owe our existence to the extraordinary energy and vision of the late Sir Charles Parsons. Parsons as a young man was tutored by Sir Robert Ball, an astronomer who thus found an opportunity to guide a brilliant intellect and also to enjoy the use of the largest telescope in the world, built by Parsons’s father at Birr Castle. At this time the firm of Thomas Grubb was well established in Dublin making astronomical and other instruments; indeed, there are several complimentary references to Thomas Grubb in the papers published by Parsons’s father, the 3rd Earl of Rosse and President of the Royal Society from 1848 to 1854. The Rev. Dr Robinson who was associated with Lord Rosse in the telescope experiments, wrote in 1840, ‘But as Short, in a spirit unworthy of his talents, took care that his knowledge should die with himself and Herschel published nothing of the means to which his success was owing, the construction of a large reflector is still as much as ever a perilous adventure, in which each individual must grope his way. Accordingly, the London opticians themselves do not like to attempt a mirror even of nine inches diameter, and demand a price for it which shows the uncertainty and difficulty of its execution. In Ireland we are more fortunate, for a member of our Academy, Mr Grubb, finds no difficulty in making them of admirable quality up to this size, or even fifteen inches.’ Unfortunately, the considerations governing the price of mirrors in London over a hundred years ago still seem to hold good to a considerable extent to-day, in Newcastle at any rate; and perhaps if Dr Robinson had witnessed the manufacture of the 4 ft. Melbourne speculum by Howard Grubb a few years later, the spectacle of the whole workshop roof in flames would have tempered his remarks about the immunity from hazard enjoyed in Ireland. In addition to carrying on his instrument business, Thomas Grubb was engineer to the Bank of Ireland, for which he made the banknote engraving and printing machines; on his retirement his son Howard carried on the instrument business, receiving his knighthood in 1887, and after valuable service to the Admiralty in the First World War, he moved the works to St Albans in 1918. Shortly after this, when Grubb was an old man, and his business was in difficulties, the inherited interest of Sir Charles Parsons in optics and astronomy led him to purchase the business of Sir Howard Grubb, thus to preserve for Britain the prestige and the experience of the best-established astronomical instrument makers in the world. In 1925, Parsons established a works alongside his existing turbine works in Newcastle upon Tyne, creating a self-contained organization under the name of Sir Howard Grubb, Parsons and Co. This factory, though it has grown a good deal in the last twenty years, is still quite a small affair; we employ altogether about 150 people and have our own drawing offices, design offices, laboratories and workshops. Grubb Parsons is a wholly owned subsidiary of C. A. Parsons and Co. Ltd, who specialize in the design and manufacture of very heavy electrical equipment for which large and accurate machine tools are essential. Thus Grubb Parsons have available to them not only their own workshops, but the large and heavy equipment of their parent company.
Gaining the upper hand on COVID-19 misinformation
