Sir Howard Grubb, Parsons & Co. Ltd

In circa 1826, Thomas Grubb established an optical works at Rathmines near Dublin, which was the foundation of an engineering and scientific instrument business. Grubb was skilled in practical optics, leading to the construction of astronomical telescopes.

His son Howard was born in 1844. Howard was privately educated and then attended Trinity College Dublin. However, following a request from the Royal Society for Thomas Grubb's assistance in the construction of a reflecting telescope for the southern hemisphere for the Government of Victoria, Australia, in 1865 Howard was withdrawn from Trinity College to help his father. The telescope was finished in 1868 and declared a "masterpiece of engineering" in the Royal Society report. Upon Thomas Grubb's retirement in 1868, Howard assumed control of the works, which were moved to large premises in Rathmines.

Between 1870 and 1880 he completed several refractors capable of studying the images of bright stars, seven photographic telescopies and other telescopes for use as refractors for observatories including Tulse Hill, Dunecht, Oxford University, Vienna, Hyderabad, Mississippi, Simeis in South Russia and Cape Town. It is also believed that he was the first to suggest the use of rising floors in observatories.

By 1900, Grubb was also constructing other instruments, suc has an optical gun sight and a submarine telescope for hte British government, and during WW1, the works were used for their manufacture. The business was then moved to St Albans.

Following Grubbs' retirement in 1925, the business was acquired by Sir Charles A Parsons and renamed Sir Howard Grubb, Parsons and Co. A new factory was specially built in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In 1947 the company was a listed exhibitor at the British Industries Fair, where it was described as being a manufacturer of Astronomical Instruments, Mirrors and lenses of Large Size, both Spherical and Aspherical; Infra-Red Spectrometers and Gas Analysis Apparatus; Wind Tunnel Balances and specialised Laboratory Equipment.

The company traded until 1985, designing and building the optical components for telescopes such as the Anglo-Australian Telescope, UK Infrared Telescope, Isaac Newton Telescope and the William Herschel Telescope, all of which are astronomcial instruments still in use today.