Description
This pencil sketch is the only known portrait of scientific instrument maker Robert Brettell Bate. Brettell Bate began his working life under his uncle, a London haberdasher, probably intending to follow his father into the mercer’s trade. Brettell Bate’s career path changed, however, when he married Anna Maria, the daughter of Bartholomew Sikes. When Sikes died in 1803, he had just secured a contract to supply the Excise Office with his "improved" hydrometer. After lobbying by Sikes’s widow, Brettell Bate was allowed to inherit this commission, thus diverting him to a life in the scientific instrument trade. In 1814, Brettell Bate enrolled in the Spectaclemakers’ Company, holding the office of Master in 1828–30. He was appointed Optician in Ordinary to King George IV, an appointment renewed into Queen Victoria’s reign.

Leonard Charles Wyon, the artist, was a painter and the chief engraver at the Royal Mint from 1851.
03/04/2023
Created by: Guey-Mei Hsu on 03/04/2023

Description
These portraits of the scientific instrument maker Robert Brettell Bate (1782–1847) and his wife Anna are by the Victorian painter and engraver Leonard Charles Wyon, chief engraver at the Royal Mint from 1851. The pencil sketch of Robert, dated December 2nd 1843, is the only known portrait of the instrument maker.

The scientific instrument maker Robert Brettell Bate began his working life under his uncle, Robert Brettell, a London haberdasher, probably intending that he should follow his father, Overs Bate, into the mercer’s trade. Bate’s career path changed, however, when he married Anna Maria, the daughter of Bartholomew Sikes, an Excise Official. When Bartholomew died in 1803, he had just secured a contract to supply the Excise Office with his ‘improved’ hydrometer. After strenuous lobbying by Bartholomew’s widow, Bate was allowed to inherit this commission, thus diverting him to a life in the scientific instrument trade. In 1814, Bate enrolled in the Spectaclemakers’ Company, moving up the status ladder to hold the office of Master in 1828–30. He was appointed Optician in Ordinary to King George IV, an appointment renewed into Queen Victoria’s reign.

Bate would go on to make and sell a wide variety of instruments and scientific tools. In 1824 the British government passed a law to replace the variety of local weights and measures by a single set of measures to be used for regulating trade throughout the Kingdom. Bate was commissioned to prepare new weights and measures of capacity, a task of considerable importance. His workshop manufactured many sets of such measures for towns and cities throughout Britain.
20/12/2013
Created by: Joshua Nall on 20/12/2013