Abraham Flatters and Charles Garnett established their company in 1901 to supply microscopical equipment. The first location of the company was as a chemist shop at 46 Deansgate, displaying the microscope and lantern slides made by Flatters at his home in Church Road, Longsight. By 1906, Flatters and Garnett Ltd employed a staff of 12. The company sold the chemists on Deansgate and moved to 32 Dover Street, near the University and opposite the Manchester High School for Girls. The firm hired and sold large numbers of lantern slides on all aspects of natural history. In 1909, a serious rift developed between Flatters and the other directors. The Garnetts agreed to buy out his share and Flatters set up a business with some other members of the staff under the name of Flatters, Milbourne and McKechnie at premises on Church Road. In 1913, Flatters and Garnett Ltd moved to larger premises at 309 Oxford Road, opposite the University. About a year later, the company developed Mersol, an immersion oil for use with high power microscope objectives which became very popular and sold well for many years. Flatters & Garnett Ltd expanded its business steadily during the 1920s, increasing their range. In 1932, the firm acquired a large Victorian house on Wynnstay Grove in Fallowfield where it moved the microslide, specimen, photographic and chemical departments. In 1950, the company introduced the Mikrops industrial projector. This replaced the microscope for routine examination in many laboratories. Due to financial problems, the company went into liquidation in 1967.

The Manchester Microscopical & Natural History Society grew out of the city's Literary and Philosophical Society, which established a microscopy section in 1858. The club was established under the name 'Manchester Microscopical Society' in order to expand membership to young people and mechanics, offering younger members the chance to own a microscope through a hire purchase scheme. Originally an all-male group, the society admitted women as associate members in 1884. Members paid a subscription fee, which entitled them to receive a newsletter and reports, and to attend the society's annual Exhibtion, Conversazione and and Soire, as well as meetings. In addition to local members, there were corresponding members based around the world. In 1955 the society changed its name to the Manchester Microscopical & Natural History Society. Throughout its history the society has had close links to the University of Manchester, as well as with other local microscopy groups such as the Oldham Microscopical & Natural History Society.

G.B.I. (Labs) Ltd supplied scientific equipment, and biological supplies in particular, to educational institutions and laboratories. The company is known to have been active in the 1960s and 1970s, and was based at Heaton Mill in Denton.

Brian Bracegirdle was born in 1933 in Macclesfield. After leaving school he worked for ICI in the dyestuffs division. Whilst working, Bracegirdle studied for a BSc at the University of London. In 1958 he left ICI to become Biology Master, Erith Grammar School, where he worked until 1961. He then joined St Katharine’s College, London, 1961–64 before becoming the Head of the Departments of Natural Science and Learning Resources at the College of All Saints, London, 1964–77. Bracegirdle began his writing career in the 1960s, publishing books and articles on photography for life sciences, various scientific topics, on the history of science and medicine, as well as the Industrial Revolution. Bracegirdle was an expert photographer, and often illustrated his own works. During his period of teaching, Bracegirdle continued his studies, obtaining a PhD in 1975 from University College London. The following year the Science Museum was seeking a Keeper for the newly established Wellcome Museum of the History of Medicine, and recruited Bracegirdle to the role. As Keeper, Bracegirdle swiftly established his new department, hiring staff. He launched a project to have them register between 100,000 and 165,000 objects using newly developed computer techniques. Bracegirdle also created a library of medical works, created an acquisition policy, and established two galleries illustrating the history of medicine. Bracegirdle was particularly interested in the 'Glimpses of Medical History' gallery set up to display Sir Henry Wellcome's collection, and was the first permanent medical display in the Science Museum. The gallery remained a fixture of the museum from its opening in 1980 until 2016. Changes of personnel at the Science Museum led Bracegirdle to take early retirement in 1987. However, he remained at the museum in the capacity of a Fellow, and undertook a project to catalogue the vast microscopy collection. 'A Catalogue of the Microscopy Collections at the Science Museum, London' was made available on CD-ROM in 1989. With the completion of the project, Bracegirdle retired. Bracegirdle remained intellectually active in retirement. He became an Honorary Research Fellow in the History of Science at Imperial College from 1990–93 and edited the Quekett Journal of Microscopy between 1998 and 2012. Brian Bracegirdle retired to Cheltenham, where he died in December 2015.