Henry Barrow & Co Tripod Mounted Card Surveying Compass HO38

Price: NZ$217.34

Code: BH1063

Henry Barrow Stand Mounted Card Surveying Compass HO38 pre 1900’s the compass is not complete and is 5 1/2” 140mm in diameter and is 3 1/2” or 90 mm tall including its base which is threaded to be attached to a stand. See all the images.

Henry Barrow (1790-1870) was one of the finest British scientific instrument makers of his time. He may have been apprenticed to George Dollond or Edward Troughton, as he is known to have worked for both of them before 1829. From 1830-1839 he was Mathematical Instrument Maker to the Surveyor of India, working very closely with Sir George Everest, maintaining the complex scientific instruments that were vital to the work of the Great Survey of India. After returning to England, Barrow took over the business of Thomas Chales Robinson at Devonshire Street, London from 1842. From 1845-c.1860 he traded as H. Barrow & Co. from premises at 26 Oxenden Street, London. He is known to have produced compasses, theodolites, and other scientific instruments during this period, supplying them to both the East India Company and the Great Survey of India. He also made compasses for the Admiralty, some of which were used in Arctic expeditions during the 1840s. During his time with The Great Survey, Sir George Everest had praised Barrow’s work on the Cary Great Theodolite: ‘I must do the artist (Barrow) the justice to say that for excellence of workmanship, accuracy of division, steadiness, regularity, and glibness of motion, and the general elegance and nice fitting of all its parts, not only were my expectations exceeded but I really think it is as a whole as unrivalled in the world as it is unique.’ Henry Barrow was made a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1849, and retired around 1860.