A rare 'Sandhurst' Military Protractor, made by W. F. Stanley c.1892. Stamped 'Sandhurst Protractor, Stanley, Great Turnstile, Holborn, London' on the rear. There is also a name engraved on the protractor - 'A. C. H. Thomas'. This is Major Arthur Charles Henry Thomas (b.1859) of the 2nd Battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 81st Regiment of Foot in 1878. In 1881 the 81st Foot merged with the 47th Foot to become the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. Thomas went on to serve in the UK, East Indies, Malta, and Crete, and in 1892 he was posted to the School of Military Engineering at Chatham to study Topography. Major Thomas retired from the army in 1902.
The Sandhurst Protractor was intended for use by military cartographers and surveyors measuring slopes in the field. The protractor is made of boxwood and incorporates a brass plumb bob, set in a recess with a small catch holding it in place, attached to a length of cord. There are several different scales on the protractor - the main one on the front, plus horizontal equivalents for 25 ft contours, approximate gradients, scale of shade for given angle, etc. It comes complete with its original leather case.
In his book Surveying and Levelling Instruments (1895) W. F. Stanley described the Sandhurst Protractor as: 'a military protractor adapted especially for topographical delineation. It is made of boxwood, upon which the protractor is cut, and has also one scale at the lower edge of six inches to a mile in yards, the tens of which are carried across to make parallels of 90 degrees, in the manner of an ordinary military protratctor. Over the back of the protractor is a scale which gives a standard for shading slopes of land upon topographical maps fron 2 to 35 degrees, also lines for contour shades. A small plummet is supplied with the instrument, the cord of which is passed through a hole in the centre from which the degrees are protracted. when the protractor is held up, degrees downwards, the cord of the plummet will pass over the degrees and indicate the angle at which it is held; by looking over the edge in this manner the angle of inclination of the land may be taken as with a clinometer'.
W. F. Stanley & Co. Ltd: William Ford Stanley (1829 - 1909) was a British inventor with 78 patents filed in both the United Kingdom and the USA. He was an engineer who designed and made precision drawing and mathematical instruments, as well as surveying instruments and telescopes, manufactured by his company, William Ford Stanley and Co. Ltd. Stanley was a skilled architect who designed and founded the UK's first Trades School. He was also a noted philanthropist, who gave over £80,000 to education projects during the last 15 years of his life. When he died, most of his estate, valued at £59,000, was bequeathed to trade schools and students in south London, and he left one of his houses to be used as a children's home. Stanley was a member of several professional bodies and societies, including the Royal Society of Arts, Royal Meteorological Society, and Royal Astronomical Association. Besides these activities, he was a painter, musician and photographer, as well as an author of a variety of publications, including plays, books for children, and political treatises.
Stanley started his business in 1854 with just £100, making mathematical and drawing instruments at 3 Great Turnstile, Holborn, London. Stanley produced a 'Panoptic Stereoscope' in 1855, which was financially successful, allowing him to expand his business with additional shops at 3–4 Great Turnstile and 286 High Holborn. He did not patent the Panoptic, so it was soon copied around the world, but he had sold enough to provide the capital required to manufacture scientific instruments. Stanley brought out the first catalogue of his products in 1864. By the fifth edition, Stanley was able to list important customers such as several government departments, the Army, Royal Navy, railway companies at home and abroad, and London University. From 1865, he worked on improving surveying instruments, including designing a new type of theodolite.
Stanley designed and set up a new factory in 1875 (called The Stanley Works, it was listed in the 1876 Croydon Directories as Stanley Mathematical Instruments) in Belgrave Road, London, which produced a variety of instruments for civil, military, and mining engineers, prospectors and explorers, architects, meteorologists and artists. The firm finally moved out of the factory in the 1920s. By 1881, Stanley was employing 80 people and producing 3,000 technical items, as detailed in his catalogue. In 1885, Stanley was awarded a gold medal at the International Inventors Exhibition at Wembley. The rapid growth of his business led to the opening of branches at Lincoln's Inn, London Bridge, and South Norwood. The catalogue for 1891 refers to the company having 17 branches, with over 130 workmen. By the start of the 20th century the company was reputed to be the largest instrument maker in the world.
After Stanley's death in 1909 the company continued to expand, moving to a factory in New Eltham (The Stanley Scientific Instrument Works) in 1916. During WW1 the factory was requisitioned by the government. Between the wars, W. F. Stanley continued to expand its position in the market place for quality surveying instruments, although it was requisitioned again by the British Government during WW2. After the war, the company continued to expand, participating in many large projects – the RMS Queen Mary and Royal Navy ships used the company's compasses and other navigational instruments. The company finally went into liquidation in July 1999 – mainly due to decllining export orders, and the loss of Ministry of Defence orders following the end of the Cold War.
Condition:
In very good condition and full working order, with minor signs of use, and some faint annotation to the scales on the rear. The leather case is in very good condition, with general signs of wear, and the inscription 'F. B. Main' [or possibly 'Major'] written in ink on the front. The name 'A. C. H. Thomas' is engraved near the top left hand edge of the protractor.
Dimensions: 65mm x 135mm
