Description

A Society of the Arts style lacquered brass microscope engraved to the foot, ‘Walter Lawley. 78 Farringdon St, London’. It stands 13.5 inches tall on the wooden plinth. The stage has X – Y thumb wheel controls; fine focus is fixed to the draw tube. All rack wheels run smoothly without issues. There is a sub stage wheel of stops and a double sided mirror (one side depleted).

Accessories include:

Live box.

Tweezers.

Stage forceps.

Bulls-eye on stand.

1/6″ objective in can.

1″ objective in can.

1/4″ objective in can (the lid engraved ‘Walter Lawley, 78 Farringdon St’.

2 x top hat eyepieces.

Double nosepiece.

The drawer is missing the handle. There is no key for the lock. Crack to door.

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William Lawley married a woman named Mary Ann in about 1836-37. Censuses note that Mary Ann was born in Newington, Surrey. Their first child, Sarah, was born in that town during late 1837. The Lawleys later had three sons and another four daughters. Son Edwin Lawley would later own the Millikin and Lawley enterprise, while Walter Lawley would run the Lawley & Son / W. Lawley branch. The other son, Theodore (1843-1895), ran a third business, which ended with his early death.

Initially, the Millikin & Lawley shop focused on new medical and dental equipment and related apparatus, while the Lawley shop continued with the pawnshop angle of selling used equipment (Figures 19-23). Second-hand surgical and dental equipment became a major part of Lawley’s inventory. The 1861 national census listed Edwin Lawley’s occupation as “surgical instrument maker”, suggesting that Millikin & Lawley retained the Millikins’ skilled craftsmen and continued to manufacture in-house.

Edwin Lawley married Charlotte Masefield during the summer of 1869. The 1871 census recorded them with their 8 month-old son, Frederick, and two domestic servants, living in Brixton, Surrey. Edwin’s occupation was listed as “optician”, suggesting that Millikin & Lawley had expanded to providing eyeglasses and optical apparatus (which could include microscopes). William and Mary Ann Lawley lived in Streatham, Surrey, with son Theodore and four unmarried daughters, and a coachman, a cook, a housemaid, and a parlourmaid.

The Millikin and Lawley shop moved from 161 to 168 Strand during 1871 (Figure 24). An advertisement from that year indicated that Millikin and Lawley were then selling microscopes under their own name (Figure 24).

By 1874, Millikin & Lawley’s stock had strayed far from John Millikin’s cutlery business, and were now selling watches, magic tricks, apparatus to teach cagebirds to sing, books on ventriloquism, and other devices (Figure 25).

The address of Millikin & Lawley changed from 168 to 165 Strand in 1879 (Figure 27). This may have been a renumbering of the street.

Lawley & Son changed its name to W. Millikin in 1881, signaling transfer of ownership from William to his son Walter (Figure 28). Edwin Lawley probably took full control of Millikin & Lawley around that same time.

The eldest son, Theodore Lawley, died in 1895. He had operated a pawnbroker’s shop at 128 Seymour Street, Euston Square. Later that year, William Lawley auctioned off a large quantity of goods, including cameras and lenses, surgical instruments, microscopes, and “miscellaneous scientific instruments, etc.”, which may have been items from Theodore’s shop.

William Lawley died on April 16, 1899, at his home in Streatham, Surrey.

Walter Lawley dispensed of his pawn and second-hand shop around the time of his father’s death. The 1901 national census listed Walter’s occupation as “accountant”.