physics

Marratt and Ellis Opticians

Marratt and Ellis Opticians is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Marratt and Ellis Opticians rather than just read about it. In short: Marratt & Ellis Opticians was a company established in 1828 in London, England. Initially known as J S Marratt, then Marratt and Short, this optician's was situated at 63 King William Street, the northern end of London Bridge where King William Street meets Gracechurch Street.

Key takeaways

Marratt and Ellis Opticians belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Marratt and Ellis Opticians to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Marratt and Ellis Opticians from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Marratt & Ellis Opticians was a company established in 1828 in London, England. Initially known as J S Marratt, then Marratt and Short, this optician's was situated at 63 King William Street, the northern end of London Bridge where King William Street meets Gracechurch Street. Marratt and Ellis was at one time a large business engaged in sight testing, dispensing spectacles, making artificial eyes and a supplier of optical and scientific instruments. There are many examples of opera glasses, thermometers, barometers and meteorological instruments etc. which are engraved with the company name.

History IN 1828 a business was established in the City of London by the oculist J S Marratt. In 1851, Marratt participated in the Great Exhibition of 1851 at Hyde Park, and was listed as an instrument maker. In 1859, the company was known as Marratt and Short, and one of its proprietors was Thomas W. Short. That year the premises of the company were the subject of a scientific study of the toxicity of arsenic-impregnated green wallpaper which was popularly used at the time. Marratt and Short in 1862 also helped to develop an improved version of the laryngoscope. A war damaged book of the company's accounts running from October 1857 to July 1866 shows the business doing well, maintaining takings between £300 and £400 a month. During the first six months of 1862 the figures were boosted to £500 by the sale of tickets to the Crystal Palace at its new site on a hill overlooking Sydenham, SE London. In 1866, Short, working with an inventor named George Ansell, created an alarm system which would alert miners to the infiltration of gases. Short left the partnership in 1867. Marratt then took on another partner, George Everest Ellis. This partnership was dissolved in 1880; however, the company continued to be called Marratt and Ellis. The company developed a line of artificial eyes, and exhibited at the International Medical and Sanitary Exhibition in 1881. Although John Symonds Marratt died in Streatham in 1889, the company continued to operate under this name for many years. There are references to the business in The Illustrated London Progress Commerce in 1893. The business was operated by John Clement Ellis; according to the "Optician" Centenary Supplement 1991 stated that Mr J Ellis was considered a pioneer in sight-testing methods. In 1914 G. E. Ellis was still connected with the company; he also represented the ward of Warwick on the Common Council of the City of London. In May 1941, during World War Two, the premises suffered total destruction when a high explosive bomb landed nearby. The business reopened in various addresses in the City (Arthur Street, Eastcheap and Great Tower Street). John Clement Ellis, a batchelor, died intestate in 1952 at Wisborough Green, Sussex. During the 1960s the business relocated to Forest Hill, SE London under the ownership of Wallis Cupit, at 14 Dartmouth Road. A letter from the manager of Westminster Bank Lombard Street dated 1961 invited the owner to lunch as their records show that Marratt and Ellis had held an account there for 84 years and they had never met. Chris Watts took over the practice in 1974 and moved the business in 1994 to 50 London Road. In 2007 the business was acquired by Johann Blandford and Alnoor Kassam and the name changed to Kassford Opticians. This was an amalgamation of their surnames. Johann and Alnoor still run the practice to this day at the 50 London Road address. Their company, Kassford Opticians Limited, was dissolved in 2021 and the business acquired as a branch by London Eye Care Centre of West Norwood. Alnoor continued to be associated with the Forest Hill branch until 2026.

Photographs

In 1844, a granite statue of King William IV, sculpted by Samuel Nixon, was erected at the intersection to the memory of the Sailor King. During this period, pictorial records of the statue, with the opticians directly behind, show how the area developed from the 1830s to the 1940s and prints and later photographs, show the changing life, and transport from hand carts to horse-drawn carriages, trolley buses and finally motor vehicles. These prints of the original engravings can be seen at the British Library, and many photos are in the Francis Frith Collection. The statue was moved to Greenwich Park in 1935.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Marratt and Ellis Opticians

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Marratt and Ellis Opticians claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Marratt and Ellis Opticians before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Marratt and Ellis Opticians ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Marratt and Ellis Opticians

In research: Marratt and Ellis Opticians appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Marratt and Ellis Opticians in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Marratt and Ellis Opticians is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1828 establishments in England, British companies established in 1828, British opticians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Marratt and Ellis Opticians outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Marratt and Ellis Opticians in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Marratt and Ellis Opticians means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Marratt and Ellis Opticians out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Marratt and Ellis Opticians in simple terms?

Why does Marratt and Ellis Opticians matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Marratt and Ellis Opticians?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Marratt and Ellis Opticians.