This photograph was commissioned by the architectural and building periodical 'The Builder'. In the early twentieth century, the National Physical Laboratory was situated near Bushy Park in Teddington and occupied buildings at and the north of Bushy House. It later expanded to occupy the present much larger site about 500 metres to the north-west. The NPL was formed as part of the Royal Society's National Standards Laboratory and it was the first government-funded laboratory in Britain, formed to carry out research into physics and to test materials and scientific instruments. The NPL continues to be at the forefront of physics research in Britain.
The exact location of the Gauge Testing Lab here pictured is presently unclear, but it is likely to have been in the area to the immediate north of Bushy House or Bushy Park.
This is part of the Series: HBL01/01 Series Of Photographic Negatives And Prints; within the Collection: HBL01 The Bedford Lemere Collection
Source: Historic England Archive
Photographer: Boucher, Adolphe Augustus: Bedford Lemere And Company
Early 20th Century Laboratory, Science And Technology