Grubb, Howard (1844-1931)

Irish engineer, who specialized in making precision optical and astronomical instruments. Among his manufactures were large observatory telescopes, a revolutionary type of optical gun sight, and the first practical submarine periscope.

Grubb was born in Dublin and, after studying civil engineering at Trinity College there, worked for his father, Thomas Grubb (FRS), engineer to the Bank of Ireland and also a renowned optical instrument maker. Howard's reputation for craftsmanship was established in 1865, when his father put him in charge of a project to build a 48-inch reflecting telescope for the observatory in Melbourne, Australia, one of the largest telescopes in the world at that time. On his father's retirement in 1868, the firm moved to larger premises in Dublin, and in around 1880, he completed a 27-inch refracting telescope for the Vienna observatory, for some years the most notable telescope of its kind in the world.

In 1925, at the age of 81, Grubb gave up active participation in the family business, which was acquired by the engineer Charles Algernon Parsons and moved to Newcastle upon Tyne as the Sir Howard Grubb Parsons Company. Grubb was elected FRS in 1883 and was knighted in 1887.