A short history of the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers up to the beginning of the twentieth century

Historical Significance: Roland Champness MA LLM FSA was Warden and Clerk of the The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers and a past Master of the Worshipful Company of Turners and Clerk of the Worshipful Company of Cutlers. The pamphlet records an address given on June 11 1952 to an audience of the Livery of the Spectacle Makers Company and their friends in the Apothecaries Hall, London. The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers was founded in 1629 and continues today. It was a craft guild for some 250 years, often not doing much, but in 1898 it offered courses of instruction and examination for persons desiring to become Fellows of the Company (FSMC) and trained opticians/optometrists, a function it handed to the British College of Optometrists in 1979. See also Cat Nos286, 531 and 1802 for more information on the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers.