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The Story of Batemans Opticians Since 1901

The Early Years

On 31st March 1901, shortly before his 28th birthday, George Campion Bateman opened his first practice in a converted baker's shop at 22 King Street, Reading.

It was an act of faith on borrowed capital but he was determined to succeed and this he did by foresight, enterprise and conscientious attention to detail.

He resolved that as far as was humanly possible every customer - the current term - should be satisfied at whatever cost to himself. This policy certainly succeeded and he built up a very sound practice despite the hostility of the local ophthalmic surgeon.

The photograph of his premises shows the exterior decorated with many signs depicting eyes or spectacles, and the window display included artificial eyes, telescopes, theatre glasses, barometers, barographs and thermometers.

In order to advertise the business, George produced and distributed many circulars and concentrated on one district at a time. The results confirmed his opinion of the value of advertising, which was in no way restricted in those days. Some of the electric tramcars were plastered with his name and his favourite slogan: 'WEAR BATEMAN'S GLASSES'. Following Asquith's famous remark, he wrote: 'Don't wait and see - wear Bateman's glasses'.

On one occasion at a football match the crowd became so incensed with the decision of the referee that they all chanted in chorus 'Wear Bateman's Glasses'.

As part of his advertising campaign he employed a local artist, H. Beecroft, to design a set of postcards depicting 'The Seven Ages of Spectacles' (As You Like It), several Dickens' characters mixing references to Bateman's spectacles with their classical remarks, and two bearded dwarfs supporting an 'astigmatic clip' - a form of pincenez with a horizontal spring bar (see picture). This advertised 'USEBIUS' pincenez which he patented. A small nut on the threaded bar permitted the tension of the clip to be adjusted by the wearer to the most comfortable pressure.

Before long, George felt the need of assistants, most of whom he had to train himself, and extended his premises by taking over a large room which had previously been 'George's' Restaurant run by the baker who had owned the shop. This room was divided into three 'testing' rooms by his favourite red curtains.

During these early years there were very few qualified opticians except in the larger towns. Many of these, and certainly most of those in the smaller towns, treated optics as a side-line to jewellery, pharmacy and even cutlery and umbrella selling. The opportunities for those prepared to take the initiative were therefore considerable.

George made the most of these, engaging and training young men of promise who became managers after a few years of experience. Training for examinations was mostly by correspondence courses supported by short periods of practical tuition by Lionel Laurence of the School of Optics and Dr. Max Coque of the British Optical Institute. By the time he was qualified a young optician had had a thorough business experience.

Expansion

One of George's first assistants was Wallis G. Carter. He remained with the firm in various capacities until he started his own in Bath where a practice is still carried on in Abbey Churchyard, now under the name of Batemans Opticians.

A few years after starting at Reading, George opened a branch in Southampton, but this wasn't successful and the practice was sold. Undeterred by this initial setback, he opened another branch in Portsmouth under the management of Wallis G. Carter.

In 1910 George formed his first company, G. C. Bateman Ltd and opened a practice in Brighton. Shortly afterwards he bought a practice in Plymouth. The premises were subsequently moved to the site of an old public house in an imposing position (see picture below).

Practices were opened in Bournemouth in 1912 and Oxford and Southsea in 1913. The outbreak of War in 1914 prevented further expansion for the next five years and indeed the business survived under great difficulties.

George's son, Geoffrey started working for the company in 1920. He began by marking stock boxes as well as gaining valuable experience in frame measurement. He studied optics and qualified as an optometrist in 1921. After managing several branches, he set up an optical prescription workshop in 1930.

By this time the company had grown to about 38 branches. The workshop (Batemans Laboratories) was the first in the country to achieve the British Standards Institute certificate BS5750, and still undertakes all the making of spectacles for the Group.

George retired in 1949 and handed over responsibilities to Geoffrey who eventually passed some of his responsibilities to his son, Peter, who joined the company in 1957.

Expansion continued steadily and in 1962 the family-owned group of Horstmanns Opticians (originally established in 1898) was acquired. One of the Horstmanns practices still exists today.

Further practices were acquired or opened in the 1960s and in 1971 Batemans acquired both the Bristol-based Dunscombe Group (established in 1797), and the F.A. Bateman group of practices in Sussex and Kent, established by George's brother Frank in 1904. Throughout the expansion period, the focus remained firmly on maintaining the high quality service that was the hallmark of Batemans Opticians.

The company today is still family-owned and run by Peter's son, Nicholas and his brother, Dominic, who continue to uphold the philosophy and high standards laid down by their great-grandfather over one hundred years ago.