The College of Optometrists

Prof. S.P. Thompson Optical Examiner who wrote on light and electricity.

In the 19th century opticians were skilled craftsmen who learned on the job and through apprenticeships. Some external training might be provided in areas where there was a density of the craft. For example, in 1886, the scientist Professor Silvanus P. Thompson (1851-1916) held optical classes at the Finsbury Technical College, deep in the heart of the Clerkenwell spectacle making district of London. Thompson went on to become the first President of the Röntgen Society (1897-98).

 

The need for formal teaching in optics was highlighted when the first professional examinations for ophthalmic opticians were introduced by the British Optical Association in 1895. With a few honourable exceptions the medical professions refused to get involved and it was left to opticians to organise their own classes.

 

Classes were provided by individual tutors who included:

• Lionel Laurance - from premises in Oxford Street and later Bloomsbury Square, both London. He also held classes in Manchester.
• J.H. Sutcliffe - from his practice in Blackpool, Lancashire and later from the BOA's first London HQ in Shaftesbury Avenue
• John Baird
• W. Banks - at the 'Northern School of Optics' in Bolton, Lancashire

J.S. Wallbridge's recollections of his late tutor, Lionel Laurance, who died in 1936:

 

One old gentleman (a pupil of over 60 years - yes, old gentlemen were students in those days, and in earnest too!) was very nervous and asked if he could spend a day with me to explain some points as Mr. Laurance expected you to know all he said instantly. I know that well as he marked some of my home work 'idiotic'.

 

Other quotes attributed to Laurance:

 

Go and get a schoolmaster to give you some lessons in algebra.

 

I like the raw student, not the man who has tested sight in his own way for a long time.

 

Thank goodness no ladies are present, or you would suffer with your learning as I should always have to mind my P's and Q's when speaking

 

Laurance was prescient when he predicted the growth of the profession in the new twentieth century:

Now you fellows, get busy when you have your certificate as in 25 years the calling will be overcrowded.