Framed certificate for Ella Lillian Pink certifying she had satisfactorily completed the course Technical Optics (Opticians Section) and passed several examinations at the Northampton Polytechnic Institute, London

Historical Significance: Miss Ella Lillian May Pink (1890-1986) was an Australian woman who qualified in optometry in London in 1915 and practised in Australia from 1917 until September 1953. She was the first Australian woman to complete qualifications in optometry in London. She completed her Fellowship examinations of the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers in 1915 acquiring the right to the post-nominal FSMC and also in the same year the examinations for the Dioptric Diploma of the British Optical Association (DBOA).The Northampton Institute was established in 1894. It was on land donated by the Marquess of Northampton. It was in Clerkenwell, London, (not Northampton) quite close to the centre of the City of London and to the hub of the British manufacturing optical industry. Its first principal, Dr Robert Mullineaux Walmsley, was an electrical engineer with a keen interest in optics and a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers. The Northampton Institute immediately planned a course in technical optics, including visual optics, which was first offered in 1898. A Department of Technical Optics was established in 1903 and provided an optometry course that included sight-testing. It was the first optometry course in a government chartered educational institution in Britain. The Institute was later named the Northampton Polytechnic Institute. the Northampton Polytechnic and the Northampton College of Advanced Technology. In 1966 it became the City University and continues to offer an optometry course but at degree level