Did T. R. Procter Bring Modern Optometry to New Zealand and Australia? An Investigation through Archival Newspapers
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Abstract
Thomas Robert Procter (1826-1905) immigrated to Australia in 1849 and in the course of a chequered career as a metalworker, gold prospector, silversmith and jeweler, became a well-known sight-testing optician in Australia and New Zealand, although he is not well remembered today. Interest in him was piqued recently through the acquisition by the Kett Optometry Museum of a classy spectacle case bearing his name and the location of his practice in Melbourne, Australia. We were able to date the case as being made about 1890. Initial research using two contemporaneous biographies and a 20 page promotional ‘treatise’ written by Procter suggested that he was well-versed in the techniques and the science of modern optometry that had emerged during the second half of the 19th century. He returned to England in 1857 reportedly to study “diseases of the eye”. He left England in 1861, this time arriving in New Zealand, where he made a name for himself as an optician before returning to Australia in 1888. More exhaustive research confirms the view that he was the first sight testing and manufacturing optician in New Zealand, and among the first when he came again to Australia in 1888. He mentored two New Zealand opticians who migrated to Australia in the 1880s who had a significant impact on the emergence of professional optometry in Australia. However, it was also found that Thomas Procter cannot be given sole credit for being the first to
practice ‘modern’ optometry in New Zealand. A good deal of the credit must be accorded to William Pugh, a London trained optician who came to New Zealand about 1875 and was employed by Procter. He may have also been the person who taught Procter about ‘modern’ optometry and who trained the two New Zealanders who came to Australia.
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