John Benjamin Dancer 1812-1887
Born
in London his father was an optician and philosophical instrument
maker. The family moved to Liverpool in 1818 and when his father died
in 1835 J B Dancer carried on the business.
Sometime
afterwards he moved to Manchester where he became well known for his
improvership of philosophical instruments. Among these ideas was one
for photographic slides for the magic lantern which apparently was
first suggested by Dancer.
With
regards to the microscope he was instrumental in making Manchester
one of the important centres in the country.
In
later life his eyesight failed and this caused his business to fail,
and it was sad to report that someone who had rendered so much to the study of optics
ended his days in such a poor way. He died in 1887
I
have come across a series of references from the Sheffield Daily
Telegraph during August 1879 when he was selling 2 astronomical
telescopes and an observatory. I don’t know if they were his or if
he was selling them for someone else. The advert says for more details J B Dancer, Optician, 43 Cross Street, Manchester
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