THE CHANCE CONNECTION Development of the Dioptric Lens – Part I By Toby Chance

This two-part article is an abbreviated excerpt from the book Toby has written with Peter Williams entitled: – The Race to Illuminate the World. If you would like more information about purchasing the book, please go to: . The Chance Family – Glassmakers

eaders of The Keeper’s Log have had occasional glimpses into the Chance lighthouse heritage, thanks to the painstaking research Rof Thomas Tag and other members of the Lens Committee. A Chance lens sits atop one of America’s best known lighthouses, Heceta Head in Oregon, and recently the Ponce Inlet lighthouse museum in Florida has restored a 4th order Chance lens sourced from Australia, now on display among many other beautiful examples of maritime design engineering. What few readers will know is how Chance Brothers became first the largest glassmaker in England (a position they lost to ’s in Robert Lucas Chance, known as Lucas. James T. Chance at age 40. the 1870s) and later dominated lighthouse lens manufacture for 100 years, their lenses found When the US Lighthouse Service began to itable one for the likes of Henri Lepaute and in close to eighty countries in every corner of replace their old reflector apparatus in num- BBT. That so few Chance lenses went to the the globe. As the great great grandson of Sir bers, from the 1850s, Chance Brothers of Bir- US is one of the ironies of lighthouse history, James Timmins Chance, who made the firm’s mingham, England, was the sole manufacturer given the strong commercial ties between first lens and was created a baronet by Queen of dioptric lenses outside France. The firm America and England. Victoria for services to the seafarer in 1901, I only produced their first lens in 1851, for the The relative failure of Chance Brothers to have privileged access to the family records Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in Hyde penetrate the US market can be ascribed to which document how this came about. These Park, London, so it is perhaps unsurprising the fact that in the mid 19th century Trinity formed a vital source for my book, Lighthouses: that the US authorities sourced most of their House, Britain’s senior lighthouse authority, The Race to Illuminate the World, co-authored lenses from France, home of the dioptric lens was stuck in a guild mentality, insensitive with Peter Williams was published by New since Augustin Fresnel’s first lens was installed to the needs of business, whereas its French Holland in October, 2008. The book reex- in Cordouan lighthouse in 1823. It is hard to counterpart did everything in its power to pro- amines lighthouse history from the perspec- be certain how many Chance lenses found mote the interests of home-grown technology tive of lighthouse illumination technology and their way into US lighthouses, but they never when new customers came knocking at the explains how lighthouses became a “tool of made up more than a few per cent of the hun- door. Chance Brothers prospered because of empire” alongside the steamship, telegraph dreds installed around the US coastline, the the determination of its partners to create a and railway. largest market for dioptric lenses and a prof- new product for its glassworks and because of its extensive network of agents in the British he family’s connections with Lucas Chance’s energy and determination Empire. By the time the firm beat the French dated to 1788 when John Robert led him rapidly to expand the business and he at their own game, winning the Grand Prix TLucas, Lucas Chance’s mother’s soon opened a warehouse in Snow Hill, Bir- for their lenses at the 1867 Paris Exhibition, brother, invested the proceeds from the sale mingham, where he traded under the name French lenses were the de facto standard in the of a beer and cider business in the erection of “The Bristol and Dumbarton Window Glass US so Chance Brothers was forced to look else- a crown glasshouse at Nailsea, a village some Warehouse”. For a few years, he extended his where to boost its output. Success eventually eight miles (12.8km) south-west of Bristol partnership to include John Dixon who owned came, the firm becoming the world’s leading where there were local coal pits and limestone the Dumbarton works, and this, together with supplier of 1st to 5th order lenses, turning out quarries. John Robert Lucas’ sister Sarah had Nailsea, provided the for trading. over 2000 apparatus between 1851 and their married William Chance and William became By 1822, Lucas Chance realized he needed his centenary, the longest continual manufacture John Robert Lucas’ partner in 1790, bringing own source of glass, enabling him to control of lenses from one firm. in extra capital for the building of another both the price and the quality of glass for his The Chance family parallels British his- glass furnace as business expanded. William trading business. His entrepreneurial instincts tory as the country evolved from an isolated had entered business in 1771, at age 21, with were coming to the fore. Finding a suitable agrarian society into one of the Great Powers his other brother-in-law Edward Homer, with works near his warehouse he of the 19th and 20th centuries and then shed whom he started an iron-factoring business purchased the Spon Lane glass works men- its empire after World War II as technolog- (a merchant focusing on inland trade) in Bir- tioned above for £24,000, of which £8,000 ical change and competition left it behind. mingham. Profits from the business, and the was for the freehold. Lacking his own cash Likewise, over the same period, the Chance’s sale of Canal shares that he had accumulated, resources he borrowed from members of his rose from yeoman farmers to industrialists enabled Chance and Homer to contribute the family, including his younger brother William, employing thousands of workers and then to large sum of £10,000 to enter into partnership James Chance’s father. Though still living in membership of the British establishment before with Lucas. London, Lucas Chance frequently travelled to sliding again into relative obscurity, overtaken Lucas Chance was William and Sarah by coach, sometimes travelling by by more aggressive and accomplished rivals. Chance’s eldest son. He became a partner in night and returning the following night. Every great industrial family is associated with the Nailsea business on reaching the age of 21 Lucas Chance erected a second glasshouse a single product or service – think of Carnegie in 1803, and in 1810 he was given full man- in 1824 and a third in 1828, in which year he steel, Rothschild banking, Sony electronics. agement responsibility for the works. Con- also brought John Hartley to Smethwick to In 19th and most of 20th century Britain, the tinuing the family ties he married Edward help manage the business after Hartley had name Chance was synonymous with glass and Homer’s daughter Louisa in 1811. He soon severed his ties with Nailsea. With his elder it was from their mastery of the art of glass- encountered problems with the manage- son James, Hartley contributed the sum of making that the Chance family’s fame and ment and went in search of new blood, reput- £4,000 to the partnership and Lucas was ebul- fortune were derived. Glass products of every edly finding the manager of the Dumbarton lient. He wrote to his brother Henry, a bar- description were made at the Chance works, glassworks, John Hartley, in bed and, pulling rister at Lincoln’s Inn: from sheet glass for windows, optical glass for him out, convinced him to come and run I have been so often disappointed, that I do scientific instruments, cameras and gun sights, his works. He now had “the leading crown- not dare to calculate on any thing, but the prob- for churches to pressed glass for glass expert in the country” to keep things in abilities are, that I shall establish on a solid basis a domestic and – of course – glass for order. Lucas left Nailsea in 1815 for London, manufactury that will be a credit to the family, and dioptric lighthouse lenses. where he established himself as a glass mer- perhaps to the neighbourhood, with an income suf- Chance Brothers: chant specializing in window glass and its ficient to make all my sons glass manufacturers. export to North America in particular. He Lucas’ ambitions stretched nationally and The Founding of a Dynasty sold his share in the Nailsea partnership and globally. He wanted to perfect the quality of This is the state of the glass business in William Chance himself retired as a partner his glass as Wedgewood had done with pottery. England at the time when Robert Lucas in 1821. “Moreover”, as Isobel Armstrong points out in Chance (known as Lucas Chance) bought the British Crown Glass Company at Spon Lane in Smethwick near Birmingham in 1822: The Spon Lane works, started in 1814, had one crown-glass furnace, situated next to the old Birmingham-Wolverhampton canal. Coal and other raw materials were transported to the works and glass was shipped to Birmingham and London via the canal. Lucas Chance was 40 years old and had more than 28 years in the glass trade under his belt. At age 14 he was already managing his father, William Chance’s, trading business in Birmingham. Spon Lane Glassworks in 1857. her book Victorian Glassworlds, “he had two ames Chance’s letters and lectures during the same year that Augustin Fresnel released further liberal ambitions, to create and define the 1840s contain clear signs of his fas- his paper Memoire sur un Nouveau Systeme a truly modern glass manufactory as a civic Jcination with , mechanics and the d’Eclairage der Phares. achievement, and, as a corollary, to create new theories of light. But they also point to an James must have been aware of the con- technologies of the highest scientific order. This understanding of how these could be applied troversy raging at the time about the status of was the modern idea played out in the making to the design and manufacture of useful instru- science and its application to practical matters of glass.” ments, as well as the improvement of processes of manufacture and business. In the Regency Lucas’ emphasis on science was very unusual that would benefit the family firm. Chance’s years in England, a career that applied the phys- in British manufacturing at that time. He fascination was understandable given that ical sciences to business was still considered referred to it in his valedictory speech on leaving his family’s business was the manufacture of inferior to holy orders, the armed services or the glassworks in 1860. It was chiefly respon- glass. The behaviour of light had for centu- the law. James was still young and in no hurry sible for the succession of experts, first French ries absorbed great minds because it com- to make a career decision yet. His shifting pre- and Belgian then British (notably his nephew bined pure speculation about the properties dilections between law, academia and business James), that Chance Brothers brought to the of invisible matter with the need to devise and continued for the next eight years. firm over its 150-year existence, giving it a lead- engineer very precise instruments to observe James received the First Certificate and ership position in glass technology, mechanical and measure this matter. James Chance deliv- Highest Prize at the London University in and finally electrical engineering. ered his lectures on light before he built his 1831. Between his graduation in 1832 at Lucas’ financial situation began to deteriorate first lighthouse lens, but he had already been the tender age of eighteen and his eventual when the cost of servicing the mortgage on the admitted as Chance Brothers’ third partner admittance as the third partner in Chance property and the expansion left him in financial in 1840, when the firm was just beginning to Brothers in 1840, there were some agonizing difficulties. This was exacerbated by the depres- experiment with the manufacture of optical years of indecision. He first tried his hand sion in the glass business in the late 1820s due to glass, probably the most technically complex in his father’s merchant business for a brief the punitive excise duties and fierce competition form of glass. James’ progress from school to spell in 1831, but he soon looked elsewhere for from the French and German manufacturers. For- partnership in the family business did not fulfilment. On 7 July 1832 his uncle, Henry tunately he was able to call on the support of his follow a straight path, however. It was uncer- Chance, wrote to him offering advice on what brother William, who took over the freehold of tain whether the attractions of law, the church, course of law would be suitable were he to the property and contributed capital to keep the academia or business would eventually lure choose that career. As a barrister at Lincoln’s works open. William also assumed responsibility him. Fortunately for lighthouse engineering, Inn, Henry knew that a career at the Bar for running the factoring business in Birmingham, the ties of family and business proved too would bring distinction to his clever nephew which traded with a third brother, George, who strong to resist. but never pressed him too hard to follow his had relocated in New York to supply growing James Timmins Chance was born in example. A few weeks later while at home at demand in America. London in 1814, the eldest son and one of 11 Spring Grove in Birmingham, James received children born to William and Phoebe Chance. another letter, dated 24 July from his tutor James Chance – Natural Phoebe was the daughter of James Timmins, at University College, Augustus de Morgan, Philosopher and Businessman head of another prominent local family from congratulating him on deciding to go to Cam- the Midlands where the Chance’s had origi- bridge and advising Trinity College for math- James Chance, Lucas’ nephew, is perhaps the nated. While at Totteridge School near Mill ematics and the chance of a fellowship. On single most important character in this story, so Hill north of London James received several 16 December de Morgan followed this with it is worthwhile to get to know him in depth. awards of learned books, which give a fas- another letter advising James to select Mr. Hig- James Chance’s education and choice of career cinating peep into his prodigious academic ginson as his mathematics tutor in preference exemplify how the cultural norms of the early attainments and the challenge he faced later to Mr. Whewell (one of Brewster’s adversaries) 19th century came into conflict with an indi- when deciding on what career to pursue. or Mr. Peacock. “He is not as well known to vidual’s natural talents and the expectations Clearly James’ interest in the relations between the world as either of the other two but I know of family, which, in Chance’s case, owned one science and religion were being encouraged from experience that I received a great deal of the largest industrial enterprises in Britain. from an early age. As a young student at more attention from him than I should have Chance was one of the first English natural phi- London University (now University College, received from the others.” In taking de Mor- losophers to apply his scientific and mathemat- London) James’ academic achievements and gan’s advice, James turned down the oppor- ical knowledge to a practical end. Schooled in affection for a catholic education continued. tunity of being tutored by one or another of the Hellenic tradition, which separated science Perhaps most interesting of all, in view of Cambridge’s most celebrated mathematicians, from crafts and technical matters, Chance had his choice of lighthouse engineering as his preferring the man with more interest in his the advantage of belonging to a family with an driver and passion, is his award of A System of pupils than himself. It was an early sign that intellectual tradition that allowed that science Mechanical Philosophy by John Robison LLD by James opted for what he considered of genuine could be useful. His Cambridge education gave the University of London in 1830, as first prize value rather than personal celebrity. him a sound grounding in science, while the in the class of Natural Philosophy. By a twist of James commenced his studies at Trinity in family’s glassworks offered him a rare opportu- fate the book, published in 1822, includes notes 1833 on a Foundation Scholarship and set him- nity to apply it to the realm of business. by Sir David Brewster and was published in self the highest possible targets. Though ini- tially enrolling for the Mathematics Tripos he wrote James a consoling letter on 15 October soon shifted to theology, with the intention of regretting his bad luck and blaming it on ill taking holy orders after graduation. His ambi- health and his decision to spend time on other tious work programme led to a prolonged period pursuits. He hit the nail on the head. James of insomnia brought about through overwork Chance suffered from the burden that befalls and in 1836, after attaining a First-class pass men of many talents who are frequently faced in theology, he was forced to take a year off to with a well-nigh impossible decision – which recover his health. That was also the year he, way to go in life? He might have become any- along with his elder sister Eliza and younger thing from a bishop, a law lord to Master of sister and brother Sarah and George, went on a Cambridge college. First a natural philos- their Grand Tour of Europe, something that opher, then a mathematician, a theological many members of the leisured classes under- student, then a lawyer, then back to being a took to broaden their cultural education. The mathematician before turning his attention to exhilaration of travel restored James’ energy design engineering and finally a half-hearted and zest for life and temporarily put him off attempt at academia, James Chance ended up the closeted atmosphere at Cambridge for, in where destiny had perhaps intended him in November that year, he was admitted a student the first place, ever since growing up among of Lincoln’s Inn to become a barrister. This the machines and excitement of the family was the passing whim, however, of a restless glass business in Smethwick. Had James put and indecisive young man, and to the exas- all his efforts into the fellowship there is little peration of his barrister uncle Henry and the doubt he would have won it, and the history of delight of his father he soon returned to Trinity lighthouse engineering and glass manufacture to complete the mathematics degree as he had would have been very different. originally intended. After graduating as seventh James Chance stood out among the Wran- Wrangler in 1838 (seventh-top mathematician glers of his day as one of the tiny fraction who in his year at Cambridge), James’ tutors and went into business. Of the 300 Wranglers who mentors immediately saw a glittering career for graduated in the top 10 at Cambridge between him in whatever field he chose to pursue. It was at this time that he filed the patent for his ingenious method of grinding and pol- ishing glass, spending many months perfecting his designs for the machinery. This new product, which confusingly he called Patent Plate (for it was not but sheet glass) was “just the thing for coach windows, for glazing oil paintings and engravings, for ornamental mirrors and later for photographic plates.” Nearly 25 years later, the Illustrated Times saw fit to draw readers’ atten- tion to this process, for it still formed the basis of Chance’s leadership in. It seemed James’ course was decided and that the pull of the family busi- ness was too much for him to resist. But back at Cambridge he had not been forgotten. On 18 September 1840, John A. Frere wrote to James at Spring Grove imploring him not to pass up the opportunity to write the fellowship exam for Trinity College, which came up a few weeks later. His heart not really in it, however; James travelled to Cambridge to sit the exam and nar- rowly missed out on the fellowship, several of his The First Order Lens at Slangkop in South Africa. Photo by the author. less-talented contemporaries winning places ahead of him. 1830 and 1860 only 3.3 per cent chose business in government administration. It is very sur- It was the first time he had failed some- as a career. A third entered the Church, nearly prising in the 21st century to find mathemati- thing so important in his life. His mathematics a half went into higher or secondary education, cians eschewing their educational background tutor, and the man who coached him in the a fifth into the professions (mainly law) the for totally unrelated careers, but this was the months leading up to the exam, J. W. Blakesley, remaining three per cent deciding on a career norm in Chance’s time at Cambridge. ames Chance’s choice of a little-trodden blowers, gatherers, cutters and flatteners, who superintend the Coloured and Ornamental career path was contrary to accepted were at first employed in introducing sheet- Depts., generally to advise and assist in the Jnorms. Had Chance Brothers been an glass manufacture at the Spon Lane works. optical glass business, and to carry out the unremarkable firm and James not excelled In 1837, Bontemps and Chance reached an manufacture of Optical Glass in accordance here he would have sunk into obscurity and agreement in which Chance agreed to pur- with Lucas Chance’s patent of 1838.” Bon- probably lost touch with his university friends, chase the rights to Bontemps’ manufacturing temps was to be paid £500 a year, five-twelfths who had almost no contact with the manufac- techniques for optical glass in return for five- of the profits of the optical department and one turing classes. The intermarriage of members twelfths of the profits, with five going to tenth of those of the ornamental department. of prominent families was a way of helping to Chance Brothers and the rest to M. Claudet, A new furnace was built which was imme- secure the line, with nephews and brothers- a partner of Bontemps. The purchase price diately set to work on the output of “Hard in-law being regarded as the next best thing was 3,000 francs, but it would only be paid Crown” and “Dense Flint” for telescopes, and when blood sons were in short supply. What once the firm had realized that sum for itself. “Soft Crown” and “Light Flint” for camera is indisputable is that James Chance changed In 1838, using the furnace installed in Smeth- lenses. In 1849 Bontemps obtained orders from the course of lighthouse history by following wick a year earlier, Lucas Chance took out London opticians as well as from Austria and his father and uncle into business rather than the English patent for the process. Lucas and Germany, where he spent an extended visit choosing a career as a barrister like his other James Chance made extensive use of patents in 1850. Bontemps was “happy to mention uncle Henry, an academic (and later priest) to protect their inventions. In England patent their unanimous approbation of the glass they like his friend Richard Ferguson, or a priest law was recognized as an important source of received,” and “one of the most competent, like his other friend Thomas Ferguson. competitive advantage. Bontemps, however, Mr. A. Ross, says that our Flint Glass is even was sceptical of patents, and wrote to Lucas superior to the Swiss Flint, not being altered Georges Bontemps and on 7 August 1844 that, “A patent in general so easily by the atmosphere. As for the British Optical Glass is fit only for an inventor, who has no man- Flint plate, they confess our Light Flint is supe- ufactury of his own, and who wishes to sell rior by far.” Chance Brothers’ optical glass busi- Chance Brother’s decision to manufac- the use of his invention.” In this instance he ness was now established and had a foothold ture lighthouse lenses in the mid-1840s and clearly took the position of an inventor and on the world market, competing mainly with its later industrialization of the process, came not a manufacturer. Germany in lenses for optical instruments and about through a number of interrelated factors. Lucas’ proclivity for taking on new prod- spectacles and later with France in dioptric The French connection played an important ucts and processes met with opposition from lenses. role, for it was the employment first of George his brother William and nephew James. Some The contrasting fortunes of the Royal Bontemps and later M. Tabouret that enabled heated correspondence ensued when, in 1840, Society and Chance Brothers’ optical glass Lucas, and later James, Chance first to master Lucas invited Bontemps to come to England endeavours shows that new technologies the science and manufacture of optical glass “to perfect the optical glass” and bring some were developed in England mainly because and then to adapt this to the making of diop- more workmen with him from France. While of the ingenuity and determination of pri- tric lenses. Another factor was James Chance’s Lucas was in Ireland, William wrote expressing vate enterprise rather than through spon- mathematical and engineering ability, which his “most decided opposition”. He explained sorship by government-funded institutions placed him and the firm in a unique position his reasons as “the vital importance to our con- or their academic counterparts. The cele- in Britain to absorb and adapt the cern, that while we are carrying on our present brated case of John Harrison’s manufacture into the glass works. Yet another was the sheer important operations, our attention and that of of the first clock to accurately calculate longi- scale of the Chance Brothers’ enterprise, which our managers should not be distracted in the tude, despite being overlooked and positively supplied the capital and engineering resources slightest degree by any new operation.” Just at discriminated against by the same Board of required to enter a branch of manufacture that that time Chance Brothers were engaged in Longitude that sponsored Faraday’s failed had defeated Cookson’s and led to their acqui- what, to Lucas, was the more important job of efforts to produce optical glass 50 years later, sition by Swinburne in 1845. Bontemps’ influ- perfecting sheet glass manufacture and he cer- is perhaps the best known example of this ence is felt here too, for it was his expertise in tainly did not want Bontemps to get his hands dynamic. Both cases illustrate the uneasy sheet glassmaking that enabled Chance to take on it, for Bontemps was still competing with relationship between industry, government the lead in what was the biggest money spinner Chance Brothers in the production of sheet and the scientific establishment that existed for the firm in the 1840s and 1850s, especially glass. Even though father and son eventually in England. Professional scientists resided out- after excise duty was abolished in 1845 and prevailed, Bontemps was later able to produce side industry and it was left to men of vision James Chance patented his new method of glass of sufficient quality for its fabrication into such as Lucas Chance to source the expertise grinding and polishing the glass to give it the slides – the first optical glass pro- he needed from wherever he could find it – in lustre and fine surface of the best-quality plate duced by Chance Brothers and an important this case, ironically, France – to accomplish glass at a far lower cost. breakthrough. his goal. He was fortunate in having a nephew Lucas Chance heard about Bontemps’ Bontemps returned to France; but in 1848 with the skills to use the firm’s glassmaking developments and in 1832 Bontemps sent he was forced out again by the Revolution and expertise in a specific industrial application. the first contingent of French and Belgian reached agreement with Chance Brothers to James Chance was an early case of a scientist workers to Chance Brothers, comprising “devote his exclusive services to the firm, to applying his skills within a business context and his and Chance Brothers’ achievement in and they sent to the Great Exhibition of 1851, becoming the world’s dominant manufacturer a specimen of a revolving light of the first order, of the highly complex lighthouse lens through which met with the highest approbation. Since that his scientific accomplishment is an important time they have devoted themselves to the same example that historians of science and tech- work, and we are confident that the time is not nology in Britain have overlooked. distant when their Dioptric Lights will be in gen- eral demand from every part of the world. Brewster Visits It is tantalizing to speculate who was the “eminent scientific counsel” to whom Brew- Chance Brothers ster referred. It was probably Michael Faraday, With the British lighthouse question being but we cannot be certain. Brewster returns far from settled to his satisfaction, in 1844 Sir to his favourite gripe about the lowly posi- David Brewster visited the Chance works and tion of science in the minds of public men examined samples of their optical glass. He was and applauds Chance Brothers for taking on impressed with its quality and the absence of the task in the face of official disinterest. The striations, which would adversely affect the “Mr. Chance” Brewster mentioned was Lucas refractive qualities of the glass. James Chance Chance, James Chance’s uncle, the founder later sent Brewster a few sample lenses by post. of Chance Brothers and the driver behind the On receiving them Brewster replied, suggesting firm’s move into lighthouse lens manufacture. that Chance apply his knowledge of optical Lucas saw a potential gap in the market for glass to the construction of a lighthouse lens: glass, and optical glass for lighthouses car- ried a price premium that attracted him. He January 4th 1845 instinctively knew he would succeed where My Dear Sir, Sir David Brewster Cookson’s had failed. It was only later that Owing to the impracticality of the Heavens at firm should take up the task of making diop- Lucas Chance persuaded his nephew James this season of the year, I received only five days ago tric lenses and Chance Brothers had shown to dedicate his considerable mathematical and the box of plates of ground glass which you have they could do it, technically at least. In his technical skills to taking control of lens manu- been so kind as to prepare and send me. They are 1862 paper on the history of dioptric lenses, facture at the firm. singularly fine, and I could scarcely have consid- he concludes with a glowing salute to the firm. The subtext of Brewster’s 1845 letter and ered it possible to execute such perfect surfaces. “He had frequently visited” he wrote, referring 1862 paper is that glass manufacture, and glass I cannot recall that I mentioned to you that to himself in the third person: lens manufacture in particular, is extremely the Messrs. Cooksons at Newcastle had not suc- …the great glass works of the Messrs. Chance difficult. Glass has properties – its chemical ceeded in executing to the satisfaction of Mr. at Smethwick, and was acquainted with their composition, optical quality and workability Alan Stevenson, the engineer for Scottish Light- admirable methods of making the finest flint glass, – that were little understood at that time and houses, the Polyzonal lenses ordered and that he and various articles of which glass was the mate- only a handful of firms – all of them in France was obliged (or preferred) to have them executed rial. He therefore put himself in communication – had tried to make glass of satisfactory quality in France. with these gentlemen, and finding that they were suitable for dioptric lenses. Chance Brothers I cannot doubt from what I saw of your willing to incur any expense in preparing for the was the only manufacturer in Great Britain works that you could overcome the difficulties most extensive manufacture of the Dioptric appa- to succeed. which have been insurmountable by them, and ratus, he proposed that means should be taken Optical glass is the most difficult of all that the process of manufacturing lenses would to induce the Government to carry into effect glass types to make, being cast in specially be both an interesting and profitable addition to the conversion of the Reflecting into the Diop- fabricated moulds rather than blown; which your Establishment. tric system. Sir D. Brewster, therefore, met Mr. was how ordinary table or window glass was I am, my Dear Sir Chance in London, for the purpose of taking made. The most important characteristic is Most truly yours the advice of one of the most eminent scientific homogeneity, meaning the glass must have David Brewster counsel. The opinion of that gentleman did not the same composition throughout its mass, St. Leonards College encourage the parties to prosecute their plan. He otherwise the light rays that pass through it St. Andrews concurred with them in regarding the contem- will not have the same refractive behaviour as plated reform as one of the highest importance; predicted in optical theory. Chance Brothers Brewster makes plain his admiration for but he thought that, considering the state of the was the sole British manufacturer of optical- the quality of the glass lenses Chance had sent finances, and the indifference with which all ques- quality glass from 1838, when Lucas Chance him. After 14 years Cookson’s had given up tions of science were viewed by public men, there introduced it, until the start of the First World trying to make optical-quality glass for light- was little probability of gaining the object they had War, when supplies from Germany ceased houses. Where else was he to turn to elimi- at heart. The Messrs. Chance, however, were not completely and government pressure encour- nate British dependency on French suppliers? discouraged by this opinion. They provided the aged a few other firms to come to market. He was obsessed with the idea that a British means of manufacturing the Dioptric apparatus, From a sideline product it suddenly became critical to the nation for use in gun sights, field , cameras and other military appli- cations. Output of optical glass at Chance Brothers alone rose from 2,600lbs (1179kg) in the first half of 1914 to 92,000lbs (41732kg) in the second half of 1918, an incredible near- 40-fold increase.

Just at the time that Bontemps had per- fected Chance Brother’s processes for manu- facturing optical glass, the biggest commercial opportunity in the firm’s history presented itself. This was the contract to glaze the Crystal Palace, which housed the Great Exhibition of 1851. The Exhibition was a chance not just to make a lot of money by supplying the glass, but also to exhibit the firm’s vast array of glass products to the biggest trade and consumer market yet assembled in one place. The exhi- bition was also the stage for the firm to display their first dioptric lighthouse apparatus. Two contemporary images illustrated these two facets of Chance Brothers’ presence at the Great Exhibition. H. C. Selous’ painting of the Royal opening on 1 May, now housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum, depicts in detail the faces of all the important per- sonalities that had a role in the Exhibition. Leaning against one of the steel columns on the first floor and hardly visible among the assembled visitors is Lucas Chance, his quizzical expression suggesting an aloofness from the grand proceedings. He looks down upon the royal group – Queen Victoria and her young family standing next to the proud Albert – all facing the members of the Royal Commission who basked in the glory of the occasion. The other image, a striking colour lithograph of the western, British nave of the Crystal Palace, forms part of Dickinson’s Com- prehensive Pictures of the Great Exhibition, pub- lished in 1854. It shows the lighthouse lens in the left foreground, adjoining the fountain and iron gazebo, all of which rose upwards towards the lattice of glass and steel that formed the roof of this immense structure. A girl is dressed in a crimson jacket and white bonnet, head Chance Brothers First Order Fresnel Lens exhibited at the Crystal Palace in 1851. tipped up and looking directly at the lens, as tion project. Fox and Henderson also feature nected with every branch of the manufacture, that if transfixed by its mesmerizing collection of prominently, as providers of the iron frame we cannot but regret that, according to the regula- glass prisms. and as main contractors. But the Exhibition tions laid down by the Commissioners, their firm Chance Brothers’ role in the manufac- jurors themselves knew well the part played by is precluded from entering into competition for the ture of the Crystal Palace was fundamental. Chance Brothers when they wrote: Medals by the fact of one of the partners having con- Joseph Paxton deservedly takes main honours The name of Chance occurs so frequently in the sented to act as a Member of our Jury. But though as designer and driver of the Palace construc- preceding observations, and is so honourably con- Mr. R. L. Chance is thus disqualified by his own tity and quality of glass Paxton’s design required This made it much easier to build the huge struc- and at the right price. France still possessed the ture, for once the parts had been delivered to the largest source of glassblowers and Lucas Chance Park they just needed to be assembled in situ like was forced to bring them over the Channel in a huge Meccano kit. Charles Dickens, in House- large numbers to help with the enormous task hold Words in February 1851, remarked on the of making the Crystal Palace glass without inter- revolution in glass manufacturing that made the fering with the factory’s standard output. Joseph Crystal Palace more than a sketch on a piece of Paxton’s design drew on his experience as the blotting paper. “The manufacture of plate glass Duke of Devonshire’s gardener at Chatsworth, adds another to the thousand and one instances where, between 1836 and 1841, he had built of the advantages of unrestricted and unfettered the Great Conservatory with 55,988 square trade.” Dickens was referring to the tariffs on ft (5201 square m) of sheet glass supplied by glass that were finally lifted in 1945: Chance Brothers. The Excise incubi clogged the operations of the On 29 June 1850 Paxton drew up an agree- workmen, and prevented every sort of improve- ment between himself, Fox and Henderson and ment in the manufacture…Nor could plate glass Lucas Chance. Fox and Henderson were to be ever have been used for transparent flooring, or the main contractors, with Chance supplying for door panels, or for a thousand other purposes the glass. Chance had priced his bid only mar- to which it is now advantageously and economi- ginally below Hartley’s of (John cally applied. Hartley was Lucas Chance’s first partner in 1828 The records of the Great Exhibition praised but in 1836 they had parted ways). Hartley pro- the glass exhibit, and particularly the plate glass posed plate glass panes of 62in by 21in (157cm by and lighthouse optic: 53cm), compared to Chance’s sheet glass panes The glass section was small, but the standard of 49in by 10in (124cm by 25cm), but Chance’s high. The industry had only come to life since were 50 per cent thinner and their lesser overall the removal of the excise duty in 1845; Chance weight was considered more important than the Brothers, the contractors of the glass for the Crystal reduced framing that the Hartley panes would Palace, were the only large makers, and they relied have required. for much of their work on foreign labour. Henry Cole – originator of the idea of the By the time of the Great Exhibition, the firm Crystal Palace showing Chance Brothers First Great Exhibition and a Paxton enthusiast – was ready to show off the fruits of three years Order lens on display. All glass for the entire came to Birmingham to secure the bid for the work on optical glass under Bontemps, including building was supplierd by Chance Brothers. Fox–Henderson–Chance consortium, which a 9in (22.8cm) achromatic lens (which, through act, he has entitled himself still more to the consid- was submitted to the Royal Commission. Oppo- the combination of flint and crown glass, pro- eration of the Jury by the valuable assistance which sition from no less an institution as The Times duced a clear white light) and a 29in (73.6cm) his practical experience and intimate knowledge of continued to dog Cole’s mission, the paper disc of flint glass, 2.5in (6.3cm) thick weighing the details of the subjects committed to our inves- dismissing Paxton’s design as late as 15 July 200lbs (91kg). The Exhibition Jury awarded tigations have enabled us to afford. When we wit- 1850 as a “monstrous greenhouse”. But by mid- the latter a Council Medal (how it managed ness the magnitude and variety of the operations October Paxton was able to write to the Duke to do this with Lucas Chance being a member undertaken by this firm, the merit of their works, of Devonshire that “The glass palace is going of the Jury is not recorded). The lens and disc the liberality, intelligence and spirit of the enterprise very well, it begins to have the most imposing were shown again at the 1855 Paris Exhibition which they have manifested at great cost and risk in appearance, everyone who sees it appears to where they aroused the admiration of Sir David experiments tried for the purpose of introducing into be delighted and astonished.” Punch, which Brewster. In his report to the Exhibition Com- this country branches of manufacture almost exclu- christened the building the “Crystal Palace” mission, Brewster tried to persuade the British sively practiced by continental enterprises, – when on 2nd November, turned its initial scepticism government to buy them and “construct the we consider the advantage of inducing men so emi- to fulsome if somewhat chiding praise. London greatest achromatic telescope that was ever con- nent in their occupation as M. Bontemps and M. was by now “100 per cent glass-conscious” and templated by the most sanguine astronomer.” Tabouret to settle in this country and superintend Punch even suggested, tongue in cheek, that the His recommendation was rejected, and the lens our works, – we feel that we should not act with whole of London be put under a glass cover: and the disc were bought by the French govern- justice by Messrs. Chance, or do our duty by the ”We shall be disappointed if the next genera- ment for £1000 each. It was another five years Commissioners and the public, if we did not call tion of London children are not brought up like before the British authorities, and Trinity House their attention, in a special manner, to the merits cucumbers under glass.” in particular, were sensitive to the need to pro- of the firm. In his centenary book published in 1951, mote British excellence in optical-glass manu- A series of fortunate circumstances led to Palace of Industry, C. R. Fray noted that the facture. Brewster’s frustrated admonitions of Chance Brothers being awarded the contract. Crystal Palace was one of the first examples of Britain’s incapacity to apply its scientific endea- The firm was the only glass manufacturer in standardized production, with girders, columns, vours for the benefit of manufacturing are once England with the capacity to produce the quan- gutters and sash bars all being interchangeable. again evident.