A ten foot imperial standard measure in fitted case, by Troughton & Simms of London, dated 1892.

Scale subdivided: 1 – 10 Ft.

Brass end plate marked: TROUGHTON & SIMMS LONDON

Case with engraved brass label: BOROUGH OF BLACKBURN – (THOs CHESHIRE MAKER LIVERPOOL.)

Case length: 308 cm.

Branded indenture number and dated portcullis marks with royal ciphers: Queen Victoria 1892, King Edward VII 1910, and King George V 1921.

Troughton & Simms of London: Scientific instrument makers. Partnership formed in 1826 by Edward Troughton (1756-1835) and William Simms (1793 – 1860). It became a limited company in 1915 and in 1922 it merged with T. Cooke & Sons to form Cooke, Troughton & Simms.

Troughton & Simms exhibited at the Great Exhibition in 1851, Class X (Great Exhibition London 1851 Class X: Philosophical, Musical, Horological and Surgical Instruments).

In 1860 Troughton & Simms opened a new works at Charlton, producing standard measure for many different countries, in 1876 they supplied the Imperial Standards of Length gauges mounted at Trafalgar Square and the Greenwich Royal Observatory.

Literature: Instrument Makers to the World: History of Cook, Troughton and Simms, 1992, Anita McConnell.

Thomas Cheshire & Co of Liverpool. Recorded as working 1844-1894.