RW Munro

An instrument company able to  trace its origins to 1783 when James Munro was apprenticed to a mathematical instrument maker in Wapping. In 1864 Robert W. Munro set up on his own account as an instrument manufacturer, and thereby founded the present company.

The firm quickly gained a considerable reputation in the fields of mathematical, optical, meteorological and banking equipment, fields in which it is still prominent. Antarctic expeditions. The company was also involved at an early stage in the production of hydrological and experimental tank equipment, and was a pioneer in the field of aeronautical instruments. It has also manufactured photographic equipment (including aerial cameras and cinema projectors), as well as a very wide range of other machinery and instruments; fruit-graders, carburettors, gramophones, racket formers, wire cutters.

R.W. Munro Ltd. was incorporated in 1916, and the Munro family is still involved with the firm. It has undergone several removals in its 115 year history. From the original premises in Clerkenwell it moved in 1870 to a larger works nearby, in 1876 to Kings Cross, and in 1938 to the present site in Woodford Green, Essex.