Heaton’s Grubb Parsons led the world in the design and building of high quality large astronomical telescopes for almost 60 years until the company’s untimely demise in 1985.
For almost 30 years, from the late 1950s until the company closed, that success was driven by two very different men, both named David, whose skill and expertise complemented one another, driving the company’s success and world renown.
David Scatcherd Brown was an academic, with extensive mathematical insight, an expert on designing and testing telescopes, whose understanding and interpretation of test results was such that the quality and consistency of the firm’s products rapidly grew.
David Sinden on the other hand came from a working class background and learnt through doing. He became an expert in working with glass, producing the optically perfect mirrors essential to the large telescopes produced by Grubb Parsons.
Together they made a formidable team, both very different characters and backgrounds, but with a shared passion for astronomy. Although there’s no evidence that either David ever lived in Heaton, their work at Grubb Parsons certainly put it on the map.
Grubb Parsons
The firm of Sir Howard Grubb Parsons and Company was established in Heaton in 1925, although the roots of the firm in astronomy and telescope making go back to Dublin in the early 19th Century, with the establishment of a telescope manufacturing company by Thomas Grubb. The firm quickly developed a reputation for the quality of its astronomical telescopes. When Thomas retired in 1868, his son Howard took over, moving the business to St Albans in 1918. The business struggled under Howard’s leadership and some seven years later was bought out by Sir Charles Parsons and the new firm re-located to Newcastle, where C.A. Parsons and Company already had its headquarters.
That Charles Algernon Parsons should have taken an interest in telescope making when he already had a well established business making power generating equipment and steam turbines may seem unusual. However, his father William Parsons, the 3rd Earl of Rosse, was a famous astronomer. Charles, along with his two older brothers, was privately educated at the family seat of Birr Castle, County Offaly, Ireland, where one of his tutors, Sir Robert Ball, was later to become Astronomer Royal for Ireland. So it’s hardly surprising that Charles had an interest in astronomy. Furthermore, the Irish connection almost certainly would have meant that he was familiar with the Thomas Grubb Company and would have wanted to continue its tradition.
Grubb Parsons was already well established and had a reputation for its large astronomical telescopes by the time the two Davids joined the company in the 1950s, but they would go on to achieve world renown over the next 20 years.
David Scatcherd Brown
David Scatcherd Brown was born in Coventry on 25 August 1927. The family were from Yorkshire, where his father was a headmaster. He attended Oldbury County School before securing a place at Queen’s College Cambridge to read Natural Sciences, specialising in physics and maths. The 2nd World War interrupted his studies while he served in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, gaining valuable engineering experience and skills, before returning to complete his studies.
By that time, Brown was already interested in telescopes and astronomy, so it must have been a natural fit for him to take up post at Grubb Parsons straight from University in 1950. He was put to work with the optical team, under the leadership of George Manville, working specifically on the testing and manufacturing methods for the large mirrors and lenses needed for large telescopes. At the time the business was just picking up after the war and David was quick to adopt and adapt the latest testing technologies, making the whole process more objective and improving the quality of the finished product. It was on his advice that a testing tower was built allowing mirrors to be tested lying on their back, which greatly improved the process and perhaps explains the unusual shape of the Grubb Parsons building.
In 1950, David married Margaret Stephens, whom he’d met at Cambridge, when she was studying Natural Sciences at Girton. The couple would go on to have two children.
David Sinden
David Sinden was born on 31 July 1932 in Hartlepool and was a keen astronomer from an early age. At the age of 16 he built his first telescope, with the help of his father, Fred, causing a stir among the neighbours in Hood Street, Haverton Hill. By the age of 22, now living in a council house in Billingham, a story appeared in the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer when David, already a member of the British Astronomical Association, applied for planning permission to build an observatory in his parents’ back garden. The observatory was to be made of galvanised steel sheets on a wooden frame with an 8’ diameter dome. The council, approving the plan, admitted that they didn’t have any precedents for planning applications for such buildings on a council estate! In the article, David admitted that he had to wait for the street lights to go out and that the heat from Teesside’s factories sometimes made the stars appear square, although he did say that they may just be flying snuff boxes!
Having been apprenticed as a fitter at ICI, the young David found that the work wasn’t to his liking and moved to work for a local optician, becoming an expert in optical instruments. It was while working there that he made a mirror, which he sent to Grubb Parsons on spec. So impressed were they that they offered him a job. So it was that David Sinden joined the firm in 1957, working for David Brown.
David subsequently married Helen, although we’ve been unable to confirm the date, and the couple were recorded in the 1980s as living at the Poplars, Coley Hill Farm, North Walbottle, far enough out of town to avoid the worst of the light pollution.
Polar opposites
In 1961, David Brown was appointed Optical Manager focusing exclusively on telescopes and a year later he appointed David Sinden as Glass Shops’ Manager, with control over scientific instruments as well as telescopes. As David Brown’s obituary notes ‘There could not have been two more different types working together, the one with a deep mathematical insight and ability to interpret obscure testing problems, the other with the instinctive feel for working glass, the hardness of the pitch, the construction of the polisher and methods of working.’
It seems that the two men were also polar opposites in terms of personality. David Brown was described as a quiet, good natured and unassuming man, whereas David Sinden was much more outgoing. Many of his friends and former colleagues posted tributes after his death, all speaking warmly of a friendly, generous, passionate man with an improbable number of outside interests which included, but were not limited to, photography, sculpture, motorbikes, steam engines, archaeology, marathon running and pistol shooting. An exceptional public speaker with a passion and enthusiasm for science, astronomy and anything even vaguely telescope-shaped, who could hold an audience entranced for hours and hours.
Their time working together at Grubb Parsons saw the company produce some of its finest work and arguably some of the best large optical telescopes ever produced. The list is extensive and includes:
- 48-inch reflector, Victoria, Canada, 1961
- 40-inch reflector, Pic du Midi, France. Optics only, 1962
- The 40 inch Elizabeth telescope, South Africa,1963
- 74-inch reflector, Helwan (Kottamia), Egypt, 1963
- 30-inch reflector, Jungfraujoch, Switzerland, 1966
- 16/24-inch Schmidt, Castel Gandolfo, 1967
- The 98 inch Issac Newton Telescope, Hestmonceaux, England, 1967
- 72 inch (182cm) Mirror for Padua, Italy, 1973
- 48/72-inch Schmidt, Siding Spring, Australia, 1973
- 154 inch Reflector, Siding Spring, Australia, 1974
- 48-inch reflector, Athens University, Greece, 1975
- 150-in mirror, UKIRT, Hawaii, 1976
- 60 inch Reflector, La Silla, Chile, 1976.
Many of them are still in situ.
Grubb Parsons, during their time there, was a curious mixture of the latest techniques and processes that wouldn’t have seemed out of place in the dark satanic mills of old. In one room David Brown might be working on the very latest in computerised testing and design processes, while in another a vast cauldron of pitch was being boiled. David Sinden always spoke of his work as dirty, grubby, grimy, filthy and gritty, although the results were world renowned.
Decline of Grubb Parsons
By the late 1970s, despite the obvious success of a series of large scale telescopes, Grubb Parsons was in difficulty. The scientific instrument side of the business, which had always supported the more impressive work on large telescopes, started to decline and being part of a much larger group of companies with different priorities saw a lack of new investment.
David Sinden was the first to leave, in 1976, to set up his own business, the Sinden Optical Company. David Brown, having been promoted to Technical Director in 1975, stayed on with the company, taking control of all of the optics work and completing a number of major projects, including the 4.2m Herschel telescope even as the works were pulled down around the glass shops.
Life after Grubb Parsons
In 1981, David Brown was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Durham University and when Grubb Parsons finally closed in 1985 joined the Physics Department as the Grubb Parsons Research Fellow. As well as working on a number of major projects, he travelled extensively around the world to advise on the construction of large telescopes. He also lectured at both Durham and Edinburgh Universities, where his lectures were said to be stimulating, with many practical demonstrations. He maintained his lifelong interest in Astronomy, with his own observatory and active membership of the Newcastle Astronomical Society.
He died at the young age of 59 on 17 July 1987 after what is described as a short illness. Probate records show his address at that time as 17, Douglas Avenue, Gosforth and that he left an estate of £97,063.
In 1979, David Sinden established his own optical company in Raby Cross, Byker, although the firm eventually moved to Ryton after being plagued by repeated problems with vandalism. The company dealt with all types of optical work, including building quite a reputation for Camera Obscuras. Loved by the Victorians, the Camera Obscura projects images of the locality onto a large circular table in a darkened room. SOC’s first commission was to build one for the Gateshead Garden Festival, where it was set up in a large tent. They then went on to build others for places as far flung as Portugal, Spain and Cuba. After the garden festival the Camera Obscura was moved to the Foredown Tower in a Country Park in Hove, where it remains the only example of SOC’s work in the UK.
In addition to Camera Obscuras, the company began to specialise in restoring historic telescopes and even in building new large mirrors, the largest being 48”, using equipment bought from Grubb Parsons when it closed down.
In 1993, David Sinden was awarded an Honorary masters Degree from Newcastle University. Perhaps the greatest accolade for his lifetime’s work though was the naming of a minor planet in his honour. In June 2005, Asteroid 10369 Sinden was named in his honour, with a team from Armagh University visiting his workshop to present him with documentation about his own star.
Sadly, he died just two months later on 29 August 2005, at the age of 73 after being diagnosed with lung cancer some 18 months earlier.
Legacy
The Sinden Optical Company closed in 2005 after David’s death. Although Grubb Parsons has been closed for almost 40 years, the old telescope testing tower can still be seen behind Siemens on land owned by a company called Houghton International;. But the real legacy of Grubb Parsons and their two optical geniuses, David Brown and David Sinden lives on in the great optical telescopes they built, many of which are still in regular use in all five continents of the world.
Can you help?
If you know more about Grubb Parsons, including the work of Davids Brown and Sinden, we’d love to hear from you. Please either leave a reply on this website by clicking on the link immediately below the article title or email chris.jackson@heatonhistorygroup.org
Acknowledgements
Researched and written by Michael Proctor, Heaton History Group.
This article is part of Heaton History Group’s project ‘Brains Steam and Speed: 250 years of science, engineering and mathematics in Heaton‘, funded by Heritage Lottery Fund, with additional funding from Heaton History Group and the Joicey Trust
Pupils from local schools will study mathematicians, scientists and engineers associated with Heaton and produce artworks, inspired by what they have learnt, some of which will be exhibited at the People’s Theatre in July 2018.
Nice article with most information coming from this site: https://sites.google.com/site/grubbparsons/home
David Kidd wrote to say:
Think your article is a bit harsh on Howard Grubb – he was an exceptional telescope maker and the company made its greatest refractors under him. They were forced to move to St. Albans in WW1 by the War Department because they made submarine periscopes and got into financial trouble afterwards because the war the Russian Government defaulted on an order for a 41 inch refractor (it would have been the largest in the world) placed before the revolution which was more than 50 per cent complete when it was cancelled. None of this was due to his leadership. Charles Parsons was already chairman of the telescope and lens makers Ross and Company and owned Derby Optical Glass when he bought Grubbs to save the business for its strategic value. He tried to resurrect the Russian Telescope contract and brought the lens elements to Newcastle (I think at least one part is in the T&W Museums store) but by then the large refractor was obsolete so all the big telescopes made at Newcastle were reflectors.
The only written history of GP says rather euphemistically they “let David Sinden go” and I don’t think he ever forgave them. Setting up his own business was very much an after thought and he wanted to stay at GP.
You are correct in saying that David Sinden was not on great terms with GP when he left. However this was due to major internal changes that GP was going through. There were a great deal of ‘efficiency changes’ taking place that David regarded as totally wrong – they had brought in a certain manager who David referred to, as amongst other less polite things, as “The Hatchet Man”. I think what David was seeing was the beginning of the end of GP and he was horrified that his beloved GP was being gradually pulled down from within. Due to this state of affairs he found himself in direct conflict with the management and decided that he could not stand by and see the slow disintegration of the company he held in such high regard. I think the level of conflict had reached a point where they were happy for him to go and David had reached the point where he found the situation impossible. It was not a decision he made lightly and it caused him a huge amount of distress. He took voluntary redundancy and went on to set up Sinden Optical Company. As GP slowly ground to a halt they sold David machines and tools which were used for years at Sinden Optical Co producing more top quality optics. He also rescued historical documents and GP info that had been thrown into a skip outside GP which in later years I took to the Newcastle archives to preserve them. Even though he left on bad terms he was in his element at Sinden Optics when restoring old GP telescopes and Sir Howard Grubb always remained a hero of his.
Thank you for your interesting comments. This is the sort of detail that you can rarely find as a researcher and adds greatly to the story of David Sinden and Grubb Parsons. It’s sad that such a great company had such an end, but that’s the story of capitalism and globalisation that we’ve seen repeated so many times since.
You are absolutely right, I think GP was sadly struggling to keep pace with the general changes away from heavy engineering and the financial pressures of producing massive optics.
I am Davids daughter and am delighted that there is still interest in him and his work, I also might be able to shed some light on a couple of other issues. The photo caption with David with the Helwan mirror says David is extreme right – actually he is the chap in the waistcoat, on the left. Also my mother Helen’s name wasn’t actually Helen – which is why their marriage date wasn’t found. Her name was Ellen Patrica but she didn’t like it and was known as Helen for as long as I can remember. They were married 13th Dec 1956
Ah yes Caroline! I thought that was He! As a very keen amateur astronomer I had tracked your father down to his quite basic establishment at Ryton. I was amazed that such an excellent engineer in his field was not better provided by the astronomical and scientific community. I think everyone was working in coats!
I was thinking of building a telescope and I think Dr McCarten who was Prof in Astronomy at Newcastle University suggested I go and speak to David
I found him very approachable and hugely knowledgeable, and he readily showed me and my young son around the works, where we saw a mirror being ground and many images go Galaxies and other celestial objects.
He explained how he used visual and other means to ensure that his mirrors were optically perfect, not lasers or computer driven devices. I marvelled at this skill. I’m sure I recall that he said he had submitted a tender to produce the mirror for the first Hubble Telescope and I have had many occasions since to reflect on this and suspect the the Telescope producers might have saved themselves a few million had they let him rather than let a firm of clowns produce it!
Lovely man! He deserved MUCH more recognition!
Thank you Trevor for your kind comments. It’s great to know that you visited my dad at the workshop. Optics was his passion as well as his job and he delighted in producing top quality, incredibly accurate optics. My husband Michael was trained by David & worked with him for nearly 20 years. Working on a wide range of optics for scientific & astronomical purposes as well as camera obscuras for Spain, Portugal & Cuba. Michael says that with regard to the Hubble issue David had commented that – ‘If huge amounts of money & optical scientists could get a mirror so badly wrong then that was absolute proof as to how difficult it is to produce top quality optics’. I think we didn’t get the contract because we were a little family business in the north of England- I am biased but but I agree, I am sure David would have produced a Hubble mirror that worked perfectly.