Like his father, Thomas, Sir Henry Grubb was a leading astronomical instrument maker. He and his father were both Fellows of the Royal Society of Dublin. Howard was knighted in 1887.
From September 1990 issue of "Orbit," a periodical of the Irish Astronomical Society and Armagh Observatory:
After careful consdieration of different designs, Dreyer opted for aconventional 10 inch refractor to be manufactured by the leading telescope maker of the day, Howard Grubb of Dublin. Other examples ofthis type of instrument by the same maker are to be found at Dunsink Observatory, near Dublin (1868) nad University College Cork (1882). This type of instrument became the standard design for refractors in the second half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, culminating in the large (aperture greater that 24 inches) Grubb refractors built at that time for Vienna (1878) and many other observatories of the world. Grubbs of Dublin continued as large telescope makers until the 1st World War when they moved to Newcastle, England, eventually to become Grubb-Parson. In recent years they built the 150-inch Anglo-Australian Telescope and much of the William Herschel Telescope now in operation at the La Palma Observatory in the Canary Islands. The firm has now ceased telescope manufacture. It was fitting that Grubb was chosen to build the Robinson Memorial Telescope, as during his life, Robinson had been closely associated with many of Grubb's improvements in telescope design.
