Archibald Barr, one of the founders of Barr & Stroud (a Glasgow optical engineering firm) lived in "Royston". He had met his business partner, William Stroud, in 1885 and together they devised a lantern-slide camera, which, after being patented two years later, became standard equipment in most British colleges and universities. Barr became Regius Professor of Civil Engineering at Glasgow University. While there, he and Stroud submitted a design for new trials of rangefinders for the Admiralty and their instrument was accepted. The Admiralty ordered five, but because Barr and Stroud had no premises, the instruments were assembled in Dr Barr's home - Royston. In 1899, after they received more orders from foreign navies, they rented property at 230 Byres Road and so their empire began.
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