A Knight & Co compound monocular microscope. London, England, circa 1860. George Knight and Co. operated by George Knight, Jr., 1812 – 1862. Signed "Knight & Co, Foster Lane, London" on the stand, with bar-limb supporting the tube, mechanical stage and sub-stage with plano/concave mirror below, in associated mahoganycase, with three Henry Crouch objectives, and one ocular. Measurement: H. 44 cm. catalogue Note: George Knight and Sons: operated by George Knight, Sr., 1775 – 1845 George Knight, Jr., 1812 – 1862 Richard Knight, 1813 – 1878. George Knight and Co.: operated by George Knight, Jr., 1812 – 1862. James How: operated by James How, 1821 – 1872 James How and Co.: operated by George John Smith, 1835 – 1905 James How had acquired his business from his former master, George Knight, Junior. Advertisements published in 1863, when How was beginning his independent business, stated that he had worked for Knight “upwards of twenty years” Following is a history of the Knight and How businesses, and biographies of the men who operated them. George Knight, Jr., was born February 19, 1812 in Islington, London, the second child and eldest son of George and Eliza Knight. George the father was an ironmonger, a trade to which the junior George also applied himself. At some point prior to 1841, young George and his brother, Richard, joined their father’s business, which became known as George Knight and Sons. By that time, the partnership was both an iron dealer and a manufacturer of chemical and photographic apparatus. Father George died in 1845, whereupon the business continued under the same name and operated as a partnership between his sons, George and Richard. The 1846 Post Office Directory for London recorded George Knight and Sons as “scientific instrument makers” at 2 Foster Lane, and “ironmongers” at 41 Foster Lane. In addition to their manufacturing businesses, Knight and Sons published books. Notably, they put out an English language version of Gustave le Gray’s Waxed Paper Process, translated and modified by their assistant, James How. How also wrote an article “On the Production of Waxed Paper Negatives” for the magazine The Chemist in 1854, and the book On the Production of Positive Proofs, from Waxed paper, Collodion and Other Negatives, published by Knight and Sons in 1855. How was described in 1855 by The Chemist as one who “has long paid considerable attention to the art of photography, and is well known as an excellent and reliable authority”. Brothers George and Richard dissolved their partnership in July, 1855. The London Gazette announced, “Notice is hereby given, that the Partnership lately subsisting between us the undersigned, George Knight, and Richard Knight, carrying on the trade or business of Philosophical Instrument Makers, at No. 2, Foster lane, Cheapside, in the city of London, and of Ironmongers, at Nos. 40 and 41, Foster-lane aforesaid, under the style or firm of George Knight and Sons, and carrying on the trade or business of Cochineal Merchants at No. 6, Mincing-lane, Fenchurch-street, and at No. 2, Martin-lane, Cannon-street, in the said city of London, under the style or firm of Richard Knight and Company, has been dissolved by mutual consent – Dated this 7th day of July, 1855. George Knight Richard Knight”. George Knight, junior, described himself as an “ironmonger” on his children’s christening records up through 1845, The 1841 census listed both father and sons as being ironmongers, indicating that dealings in iron were the major part of their business during those times. As a probable reflection of his financial success, the younger George listed himself as a “gentleman” on the baptisms of son Edward in 1849 and daughter Ada in 1854. For the 1851 census, the younger George described himself as a “manufacturer of philosophical instruments”, employing 15 men. In 1861, he reported to be a “philosophical instrument maker employing 8 men”. This business was obviously good for the Knights, with both the 1851 and 1861 censuses recording multiple live-in servants. George, his wife Louisa, and their children lived at 46 Regent’s Square, London, from 1842 until his death. After 1855, the scientific instrument business was operated by George. Advertisements indicate that the business was renamed “George Knight and Co.”, although other people’s references to the shop generally used the old “and Sons” name. George’s business appears to have been centred on the 2 Foster Lane shop. There, he made and sold all manners of equipment and supplies for photography and chemistry. George Knight and Co. survived until 1862. George evidently got heavily into debt, and was forced to sign the business over to his creditors in June, 1862. It is possible that ill health played a role in ending George’s company: he died August 6 of the same year. Shortly after Knight’s foreclosure, the business reopened under the ownership of James How, a former employee. Estimate: 200-400