Hearn & Harrison
by Victoria JL Fisher
Hearn & Harrison, a long-standing Montreal scientific instrument importer and manufacturing company, emerged from the business owned and headed by instrument maker Charles Hearn.
Charles Hearn died in 1865, leaving the successful business to his wife Susan Watson Hearn. She continued the company, eventually partnering with Thomas H. Harrison, who she also married, and forming Hearn & Harrison. Within a decade, her husband returned to England, possibly for his health, and his son, Thomas L. Harrison, became the manager. Although Susan and the younger Thomas worked together for some years, T.L. Harrison established his own separate business under the name Harrison & Co. in 1893, leaving Susan Harrison to hire a new manager. In all, Susan Hearn/Harrison had charge of the company from the early 1860s until her death in the 1900s. While women were very frequently involved in family businesses,[1] Hearn/Harrison’s heading a technical company for over forty years is unusual.
This transit theodolite, a surveying instrument used for measuring vertical and horizontal angles, dates from the 1880s. It was probably made by the company. Hearn & Harrison were primarily importers of British and French instruments, but also maintained a manufacturing side to the business beginning with Charles Hearn, who had a British-American style of manufacture.
Design elements of this example match the earlier theodolites made by Charles Hearn, but the name is clearly Harrison & Hearn. Although it is hard to be sure, this suggests some manufacturing continuity between Charles Hearn and the Harrison & Hearn business, e.g. manufacturing continued using Charles Hearn’s pattern.
A manufacturing side to the business appears to have continued into the 20th century, alongside offering repairs as “a specialty.” They seemed to have leant on their scientific credentials. Labelling themselves a “Scientific Institute” in the mid-1880s, the company were taking meteorological measurements from a site on Notre Dame Street, which were published in the daily newspaper.
Surveys, navigation, and meteorological instruments were the main output of Canadian instrument makers in the later 19th century, reflecting the practical activities of those buying instruments. Hearn & Harrison was a supplier of surveying instruments to the Canadian government in the 1880s, and this theodolite may be an example of this.
- 1857? – William Hearn & Charles Potter dissolve a partnership called Hearn & Potter, a Toronto business. (Montreal Illustrated 1894, 253)
- 1859 – Charles Hearn is acting as agent for William Hearn who has separated from the firm of Hearn & Potter and established a separate business at 85 King Street W., Toronto. (Caverhill’s Toronto City Directory 1859-60)
- 1860 - Charles Hearn moves his business to Montreal, establishing himself at 154 or 160 Notre Dame Street [Rue Notre Dame]. (Montreal Illustrated 1894; Lovell’s Montreal Directory 1861-62)
- 1865-1869 - Charles Hearn dies, leaving his business to his wife Susan Watson Hearn. In 1869, the business is located at 242 Notre Dame Street ?West [Rue Notre Dame ?Ouest], listed as “C. Hearn” and is selling “mathematical and optical instruments”, including thermometers, barometers, etc. (Montreal Illustrated 1894, 253; Lovell’s Montreal Directory 1869-70: 23)
- 1870 - Susan Hearn marries Thomas H. Harrison, and the company becomes known as Hearn, Harrison & Co. or Hearn & Harrison. (Lovell’s Montreal Directory 1870-71)
- 1878 - Thomas L. Harrison, T. H. Harrison's son, becomes "active manager" of Hearn & Harrison. (The Commerce of Montreal and its Manufactures 1888)
- 1885 - Hearn & Harrison, “opticians and mathematical instrument makers” is taking daily meteorological observations at 1640-1642 Notre Dame Street ?West [Rue Notre Dame ?Ouest]. (The Montreal Daily Herald and Daily Commercial Gazette)
- 1893 - Thomas L. Harrison leaves Hearn & Harrison to found a rival company, Harrison & Co. (Montreal Illustrated 1894, 199)
- 1904, September - The goods at 1640-1642 Notre Dame are sold off by auction by the Marcotte Brothers (Marcotte Freres), includes: “the whole stock, fixtures, rent and goodwill of the store, known as Hearn & Harrison’s and established in 1857. Stock and goodwill, about $20,000, Fixtures about 1,000… Stock comprising: Engineers’ and Draughtsmen’s Tools, Levels, Telescopes, Opera Glasses, Marine Glasses, Compasses, Thermometers, Baromets, Kodaks, Hydrometers, Surveyors’ Instruments, and Chains, Electric Batteries and Lanterns,…” (The Daily Witness)
- 1907 - Hearn & Harrison celebrating a "semi-centennial" under the management of M.R. deMeslé. (Brooks & Daniels, 1042)
- 1931 - Company listed under M.R. deMeslé, registered at 1610 St. Denis, Montreal; may not be active. (Lovell’s Montreal Business Directory 1931-32)
[1] For example, the finances of the Thomas Pocklington Instrument Co. Ltd., were overseen by Thomas Pocklington's wife, Mollie Pocklington.
Selected Sources
Brooks, R., Daniels, W.S. “Surveying Instrument Makers of Central Canada” (1993), pg 1041-1042
Dominion of Canada. “Sessional Papers Vol. 1 First Session of the Fifth Parliament of the Dominion of Canada – Session 1883” Vol. XVI (MacLean, Roger & Co, 1883)
“Headquarters for Scientific Instruments” Trade card for Harrison & Co. Scientific Instruments. Toronto Public Library Digital Archive, Special Collections in the Arts. Obj. No. SAR-TC-149. (https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/objects/377505/headquarters-for-scientific-instruments) [24-11-23]
Mitchell's Canada Gazetteer Business Directory, 1864-1865 (W.C. Chewett & Co., 1864)
Montreal Illustrated 1894 (The Consolidated Illustrated Co., 1894): 199, 253
Transit Theodolite
Hearn & Harrison