Court, Thomas Henry 1868 - 1951

(1868-1951), microscopist

Thomas Henry Court (1868-1951) had a genius for searching out and collecting old instruments, particularly microscopes, has made him an outstanding figure in the development of our knowledge of the history of scientific instruments.

Thomas Court only had a brief grammar school education at Ongar, and spent time working as a tailor and assisting his uncle as an insurance agent. In c. 1895 he joined the piano firm, Brinsmead of Camden Town as collector of outstanding payments. By chance one day, he attended Stevens's Auction Rooms in Covent Garden, and bought a miscellaneous lot which included an old microscope. He sold this at a good profit and conceived the idea of buying and selling old microscopes. He gained a very sound knowledge of the subject, especially the older instruments. He took some antique microscopes to Mr Baxendall at the Science Museum, and it was meeting that Court arranged to deposit many of his microscopes to the Science Museum. Court gave over 300 items to the microscopy collections, and as many as 400 other scientific instruments to other collections, this has been decisive in establishing the international importance of the collection today.

Between 1926 and 1930 he published several articles with Moritz von Rohr in the 'Transactions of the Optical Society' and in 1932, together with Reginald Clay, he published 'The History of the Microscope Compiled from Original Instruments and Documents'.