This was one of two 6-inch equatorial refractor telescopes commissioned by the Royal Observatory for the Transit of Venus expedition of 1874. In total the Observatory purchased 8 similar telescopes for this expedition, of these two (including this one) were commissioned from T. Cooke & Sons; two were commissioned from Simms while four were purchased second hand. While the Cooke and Simms telescopes were referred to as Cooke No.1, Cooke No. 2, Simms No. 1 and Simms No. 2 respectively the second hand telescopes were named after their previous owners. The current locations of the 8 telescopes are as follows:

Cooke No. 1 - whereabouts unknown.
Cooke No. 2 - previously at the RGO now part of the NMM collection - ZBA0757
Simms No. 1 - previously at the RGO, current whereabouts unknown.
Simms No. 2 - Imperial College, London
'Naylor' - lost at sea in 1882
'Hodgson' - became the guiding telescope to the Thompson 30-inch reflector now at Herstmonceux science centre.
'Corbett' - subsequently became the finder telescope for the 28-inch refractor (AST0932)
'Lee' - Science Museum, London.

Since its arrival at the NMM in 1998 this telescope has been in storage and needs assembly for further study, photography and any other museum use.