The History of the
Spectacle Makers' Society

The Spectacle Makers' Society grew out of the SMC Fellowship, which itself was the brainchild of Roland Champness, who was later to become both Clerk and Master of the Livery Company.

The name of the association was changed in 1972 at the direction of the Court, in order to make a clear distinction between the optically qualified Fellows (of the Company) and members of this cultural and social Fellowship.

After five years' association with the work of the Company, Roland Champness had become conscious of the lack of interest it showed in the large body of Freemen and diploma holders whose annual quarterage formed a substantial part of its then income. Apart from the yearly demand for payment of their subscription, these members of the Company rarely heard or saw any sign of interest or recognition that they were indeed part of an ancient livery company of the City of London once they had passed their examinations and received their diplomas. They were not eligible to come to the livery dinner, and were seldom, if ever invited, to any other function of the Company.

It was to remedy what he saw as a serious gap in the Company's development that, in 1933, he sought the Court's permission through his father, Sir William Champness, the then Clerk, to start a "sort of Fellowship Guild of Freemen within the Company", to "provide social and cultural refreshment and stimulus for liverymen, freemen and student associates of the Company, together with their friends and families". The Court not only approved the idea, but also gave him a preliminary grant of 100 guineas to open a Fellowship account from which to meet any immediate expenses.

The initial meeting was held in 1933 in Prince Henry's Room near the Inner Temple Gateway in Fleet Street, and was called by the insertion of a notice in several current optical journals inviting all those interested and qualified to attend. There was a good response, evident interest was aroused and, apart from the hiatus caused by the war, the Fellowship (Society) has flourished ever since. Subsequent meetings took place in the Chapter House of St Paul's Cathedral and the premises of the City Livery Club at Sion College on the Embankment, before the Fellowship (along with the Company) settled down "permanently" and happily in Apothecaries' Hall.

The Fellowship's "season" used to open with a dinner in October or November which, pre-war, was held in the old Trocadero Restaurant in Shaftesbury Avenue for the princely sum of twelve shillings and sixpence (62½ pence in today's currency), plus wine, but including a cabaret featuring that rising young star, Mr Arthur Askey. After the war, it was decided the Fellowship Dinner should not have an established "home", but that members should have the opportunity to dine in a different livery hall each year. Monthly meetings were usually held on a Wednesday or Thursday evening, with the occasional visit to a place of interest associated with the City of London.

One of the declared objects of the Fellowship has always been to interest members in, and inform them about the civic side of the City of London, and what is involved in becoming "free" of one of its livery companies and of the City itself. Then, as now, events were advertised through a special mailing list of members, but announcements of meetings and visits were also placed among the advertisements on the back page of "The Optician", a practice that continued into the 1970's. The programme also included the annual Charter Day Service followed by a soireé in Apothecaries' Hall, and closed with an outdoor excursion to some place of particular interest outside London in June or July.

To give the Fellowship its own sense of corporate identity, Champness adopted as its emblem the shield from the pseudoheraldic device which the Company had awarded itself back in the early nineteenth century without any reference to the College of Arms, and which bore testament to the early spectacle makers' work as scientific instrument makers by displaying two pairs of nose spectacles, compasses to denote mathematics, a globe to represent Astronomy and Geography and prisms for demonstrating the theory of light and colour. Originally, the Fellowship also displayed the motto which used to be placed under the shield, "A Blessing to the Aged", but in 1967 the Court decided that that practice should cease.

Initially, there was a small subscription of ten shillings for separate membership of the Fellowship, but this was discontinued after the war, when all Freemen of the Company were automatically regarded as members. For many years, the finances of the Fellowship rested on the annual grant of £100 from the Company, but in 1962 it was agreed that, as the Fellowship had become so integral and important a part of the SMC's life, it would be logical and sensible to incorporate its finances with those of the Company, and therefore to discontinue the grant. That arrangement lasted until 1994, when the Society was established as a separate, self-financing entity with its own accounts.

The keynote of the Fellowship when it was first founded was informality. There was no "constitution". The Master of the Company was invited to become the ex officio president, but there was no committee. As self-appointed honorary secretary, Roland Champness did all the work of arranging meetings, lecture programmes, dinners and visits until in 1963, thinking that he would soon be retiring from the Clerkship of the Company, he decided that in the interests of continuity he should no longer operate as a "one-man band". A Committee was therefore formed from volunteers from within both the Freedom and the Livery although, despite relinquishing the Clerkship in 1966, Roland Champness remained Chairman until 1972. It was then agreed that the Chairmanship should devolve to a current or former member of the Committee, who would hold office for three years. The Clerk of the Company remained ex officio Honorary Secretary to the Society.