John Browning (scientific instrument maker)

John Browning
John Browning c.1831 – 1925
Born	c.1831 Kent, England
Died	1925 Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England
Nationality	English
Occupation	Inventor, manufacturer
Known for	Precision scientific instruments

John Browning (c.1831 – 1925) was an English inventor and manufacturer of precision scientific instruments in the 19th and early 20th centuries. He hailed from a long line of English instrument makers and transformed the family business from one dealing in nautical instruments to one specialising in scientific instruments. Browning was particularly well known for his advances in the fields of spectroscopy, astronomy, and optometry.

John Browning was born around 1831 in Kent, England, the city recorded variously as Bexley or Welling. His father, William Spencer Browning, was a maker of nautical instruments. It has been speculated that his shop inspired that of the character Solomon Gills, the ship's instrument maker, in the 1848 novel Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens. John Browning hailed from a long line of English instrument makers. His great-grandfather was instrument maker John Browning, brother of Samuel Browning, of the firms Spencer & Browning and Spencer, Browning & Rust, manufacturers of navigational instruments. The latter firm was in operation in London from 1784 to 1840, and was succeeded by the firm of Spencer, Browning & Co. Several sources indicate that John Browning's great-grandson John Browning resided in Sevenoaks, Kent.

John Browning initially intended to follow the medical profession, and entered Guy's Hospital, a teaching hospital and the location of a school of medicine. Despite having passed the required examinations, however, he abandoned his plans due to ill health. Instead, he apprenticed with his father, William Spencer Browning. At the same time, in the late 1840s, he was also a student at the Royal College of Chemistry. When John Browning came of age, he joined his father in the family business. However, he decided to change the nature of the business, due to increasing competition in the making of nautical instruments. Instead, he elected to pursue the design and manufacture of scientific instruments. In 1856, he assumed sole ownership of the enterprise. The factory was at 111 Minories, London for decades; it moved to 63 Strand, London in 1872. There was an additional London workshop at 6 Vine Street. John Browning's choice of profession was somewhat unusual for a graduate of the Royal College of Chemistry. Those who were inclined to become entrepreneurs tended to enter more chemically-oriented businesses, or have been associated with them before matriculating.