The Family Life and Professional Works of Carston Diederick AHRENS (1837 – 1918)

IntroductionThis paper has been prepared, for the purposes of family history research, by Jean and Colin GASKIN ( jeanblanche1@yahoo.co.uk or cjcg001@uwclub.net ) The majority of the material reproduced below exists in the public domain, much having been extracted from Internet sources. However our thanks go to other individuals and organizations from which sources much useful information has been obtained. In particular we are indebted to Lucy Blaxland and other staff of the Oxford Museum of Science for their time and effort in making available, for our examination, various examples of Carston’s work.

Carston Diederick AHRENS was born, circa 1837, the son of Johann Diederick and Jane (née SAVELL) AHRENS in Germany. Johann, or John Diederick’s occupation was stated as Clerk on his death certificate and carpenter on Carston’s second marriage certificate. His parents had previously lived in England and Carston’s older and younger siblings, John, Catherine, George, James and Joseph, all had been or were later born in the London area. The reason Carston was born in Germany is unclear although a possibility is discussed in the succeeding paragraphs.

The remainder of these notes are in two parts, the first dealing with what is known of his family and social life and in the second, information which relates to his professional life.

Family Life

The following information, mostly gathered from census and church records, show various Christian name variants such as Carter, Diederich and in a transcription of the 1881 census he is recorded as Carston DAHRENS. All these variations are obviously transcription errors occurring either during enumeration or by electronic scanning of original documents. For the sake of convenience he will be referred to only as Carston.

There is a possibility that Carston’s paternal grandparents lived in Bremen as the records of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints show the baptism on 11th May 1809 of Johann Diederich AHRENS, the son of Johann Diederich and Anna (née THOMSEN) AHRENS in that city. Further research is required to establish the relevance of this information.

As noted above, Carston was born circa 1837, this date having been calculated from a number of census returns and his age (81) when his death was registered in 1918. He first appears in census returns for England in 1851 when he was stated as being aged 14 and born in Germany with a notation that he was a British Subject. At that time he was living with his widowed mother and siblings at 12 Pilgrims Buildings, Camberwell. His occupation was stated to be a Pot Boy.

Page 1

mailto:jeanblanche1@yahoo.co.ukmailto:cjcg001@uwclub.net

It has not been possible to determine where in Germany Carston was born and no baptismal record can be traced. It seems unlikely, bearing in mind the problems of travel and economic considerations of the era, that his parents and family would return to Germany for a holiday or family visit. Another aspect which may be pure coincidence is that in 1837 (the calculated year of Carston’s birth) the King of England and Hanover William IV died 27 days after Victoria's eighteenth birthday. Since, under Salic law, Victoria could not inherit the German kingdom, those possessions passed to the next male heir, her uncle Ernest Augustus I of Hanover. It is conceivable that confusion, or concern, regarding the future status in England of descendants of earlier German emigrants suggest that the pregnant Jane might have gone to Germany to ensure that her future child be born there.

Carston married, for the first time on the 8th February 1858 to Mary Ann SMITH at the Parish church of St Botolph, Aldgate. At the time of the marriage, bride and groom were stated as living in Aldgate and his occupation an Optician.

By the time of the 1861 census Carston was living with his wife and 4 month old son, John Diederick, at 32 Henry Street Clerkenwell. His occupation was stated as being a Prism Worker. In 10 years he had progressed from being a Pot Boy to Optician and Prism Worker and he kept to the latter and similar occupations for the remainder of his life.

In 1863 Carston and his family had moved to Wandsworth, his son George Thomas’ (see third paragraph below) birth being registered in that district. The informant of his birth was his mother, Mary Ann and their address as being 7 Milton Street, Wandsworth Road, Clapham.

By 1871, Carston had moved to 5 Trafalgar Square, Mile End Old Town with his wife, two sons, an unmarried brother and baby daughter. His occupation was stated to be Optician.

The 1881 census transcription incorrectly recorded Carston as Carston DAHRENS and he was only traced from the early pilot CD records by the uniqueness of his Christian name. At that time he was recorded as being a widow (sic) living at 66 Pentonville Road, Islington, with two lodgers, unmarried males with the family name of LEMAITRE. Carston was recorded as being an Optical Glass Prism Worker. Carston’s wife, Mary Ann’s death was recorded at Islington in the last quarter of 1878. It would appear reasonable to assume that Carston and family had moved from Mile End Old Town to Islington some time between 1871 and 1878. No trace of any of Carston’s three children have so far been found in the 1881 census records.

With regard to Carston, the 1891 census showed no trace of him but his son, George Thomas was living in Hampstead with his children by his first wife and her unmarried brother. George Thomas was the father of Ivy AHRENS, mother of Jean GASKIN née RUMSBY.

The 1901 census shows Carston, an Optician Glassworker, living at 11 Park Road Hampton Wick with wife (sic) Elizabeth aged 48 and two daughters Maude aged 14 and Elizabeth 18. The order in which the two daughters are placed on the census form is of significance as

Page 2

discussed next. The only marriage registered between Carston and Ann E DODD was at the Parish church of St John the Baptist, Hoxton on the 20th March 1911 when they were stated as living at 16 Fairbank Street, though this could well have been an address of convenience. Presumably, prior to that date, they had lived together as a family without the formality of a marriage. Interestingly, the birth of Maude Ahrens DODD was registered in Kingston in the second quarter of 1886, five years before the death, in the first quarter of 1891, of her mother’s husband Joseph William DODD.

The 1902 issue of Kelly’s directory also shows Carston (another misspelling) living at 11 Park Road, Hampton Wick.

The situation regarding Carston’s whereabouts at the time of the 1911 census is not completely clear; access to the full census details should solve this problem. At the present time the summary sheets are available on Ancestry.co.uk and these show Carston as living at 15 Edward Road, Hampton Wick and Mrs AHRENS living at 43 Eastbury Road, Kingston with two other females (presumably her two daughters).

Carston’s death occurred at the Union Infirmary, Kingston on the 2nd March 1918 the informant being E AHRENS, his widow, of 13 Knights Park, Kingston. Whether this was their family home is not clear. On the death certificate his occupation was stated as Master Optician and his business address as 95 Hampton Road, Hampton Hill.

Professional Life

The 1867 issue of the Post Office directory for Wandsworth shows Carston as being an Optician at 5 Hope Cottages, Dunsany Place, the format of the directory indicating that this was his domestic address rather than that of a workplace.

The Oxford Museum of Science holds, inter alia, a stamped receipt for the sale by Carston of a large Nicols prism to a Mr G.H. MADAN on 7th April 1885 for the sum of £11.7.6 (£11.38). The business address on the receipt is 36 Great Russell Street WC London. The evidence from this document clearly indicates that he was in business in his own right by 1885.

In the 1898 issue of Kelly’s directory, Carston is shown as being an Optician at 9 Park Terrace, Hampton Hill, Surrey.

Page 3

The Internet has provided many insights into Carston’s professional life but with limited information where he worked and whether he was an employee or in business in his own right. The Index of Microscopes and Accessories for the Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society 1878-1907 shows seven microscopes of various types by Carston the earliest being dated 1881. It is presumed that the seven items referred to are those now located in the Oxford Museum of Science. Images of the majority of those items are available on the museum’s website. One item is of interest as a use for that particular equipment cannot readily be identified. A photograph is appended to this paper.

A copy of Patent Number 18,997 which was accepted in the United Kingdom on the 14th

August 1911 jointly in the names of Carston and Jacob PILLISCHER for the “Improved Construction of Optical Prisms” has been in the possession of the family for some time. Carston’s address was stated as 8 Station Road, Norbiton and his occupation as Prism Worker. Those for PILLISCHER were Scientific Instrument Maker and 88 New Bond Street, London. Jacob PILLISCHER, an Hungarian by birth, was the manufacturer of many optical instruments and the domestic address of he and his family in the 1881 census was stated as 19 Acacia Road, St John’s Wood, Marylebone. It may be coincidence but at 20 Acacia Road a Bernhard AHRENS and his wife were recorded. Although AHRENS is a comparatively common family name, it is conceivable that the close proximity of Bernhard’s and Jacob’s residences may have led to the association between Carston and Jacob. Alternatively the fact that they both shared the same professional interests, may have led to their jointly applying for a patent.

A copy of a “Trade Price List of Prisms” issued by C.D. AHRENS of Hampton Hill is appended to these notes. The list states that the business was established in 1859. This annotation would indicate that Carston was in business in his own right at, or around, the time of his marriage to Mary Ann SMITH.

The following is an extract from the website:-www.europa.com/~telscope/binotele.htm

“Subject: Prism binocular by AhrensFrom: Peter AbrahamsCarston Diederich Ahrens was an important figure in late 19th century Instrumentation who is quite overlooked today. He does not appear in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography, nor in the British Dictionary of National Biography. There are no entries in the Astrophysics Data System. His major contributions were in microscopy, but he also designed & produced a hand held binocular telescope. City directories cited by Turner (references below) include 1873, including: Ahrens, prism worker, 5 Baker Street, Lloyd Square, London; and 1874-1880, 373 Liverpool Road, London. Ahrens noted that he made many hundreds of prisms for Wenham binocular microscopes, and also experimental prisms. Ahrens was granted English patent 1710284, 31 December 1884, for 'Improvements in the construction of erecting binocular prisms'. This was similar to the earlier A.A. Boulanger design, using Porro prisms,

Page 4

and without inspecting the patent, it is unclear what his improvement entailed (although von Rohr states that he did not complete the patent).”There had been no family knowledge of this earlier patent until a search of the Internet was made during 2009. Some of the information regarding business addresses had also been corroborated through data available on Ancestry.co.uk.

Very little else is known of Carston’s professional life except for a family legend that, during WW1 he had been interned but was later released to work on prisms for use in submarine periscopes. It does not appear to be very likely that the legend of internment is true as, by 1914 when the public outcry about anything or anyone with Germanic connections was beginning, Carston was in his late 70’s. The suggestion of contributing to the manufacture of components for periscopes could, however, have a ring of truth.

Jean and Colin GaskinScratby, Norfolk, UK.January 2011Updated February 2011

Unidentified equipment containing engraved signature of C. D. AHRENS

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7