Troughton Simms
1826-1922

Edward Troughton (1756-1835) had previously had his own scientific instrument business, inherited from his father. Troughton had been a sole proprietor, and before that he was in partnership with his brother John. John died and Edward took on Simms in 1826; Edward Troughton died in 1835. His achievements included a transit telescope for Greenwich Observatory (1816) and the precision surveying instruments for the Ordnance Survey of Britain, Ireland and India.


Troughton & Simms was a British instrument-making firm, formed when Edward Troughton in his old age took on William Simms as a partner in 1826. William Simms (1793-1860) had trained as a goldsmith, and began to gain work dividing circles on fine astronomical instruments. When William Simms died in 1860, the business was taken over by his son James and nephew William.
Troughton & Simms's shop in Fleet Street became the hub of the finest scientific instrument making in London, in a period in which there was an expanding demand for precision instruments, for astronomy, surveying and precision measurement. They made instruments for Greenwich Observatory, for imperial surveys and exploring expeditions. When fire destroyed the Houses of Parliament in 1834, the firm was commissioned to create new standard lengths, necessitating 10 years of testing of the remaining measures.
The firm produced hundreds of astronomical instruments such as mural circles, transit circles, sextants, and other astronomical instruments for observatories around the world. Troughton & Simms made several of the main instruments for Melbourne Observatory, including an 18 inch altazimuth used on the Geodetic Survey, portable transit instrument (circa 1850), zenith sector (1860), 4.5 inch equatorial telescope (1862), 8 inch equatorial telescope (1874), spectroscope (1877), and 8 inch transit instrument (1884).
While they had an excellent reputation for quality, the firm exasperated many of their customers with delays of years in delivering some instruments.


Troughton Simms became a limited company in 1915 and in 1922 it merged with T. Cooke & Sons to form Cooke, Troughton & Simms. Cooke, Troughton & Simms was a British instrument-making firm formed in York by the merger of T. Cooke & Sons and Troughton & Simms. In 1924 the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Vickers. A new factory was built in 1938 in Haxby Road, York and the firm's telescope-making business was acquired by Sir Howard Grubb, Parsons and Co. Ltd. During the Second World War 3,300 people were employed by the company. In 1963 it became a part of the new Vickers Instruments Ltd and they ceased trading in 1988.