Captain Abney gave us the gift of hydroquinone in 1890. It became one of the most widely used developing agents, as in photographic developers from Kodak, such as D-8, D-11, D19, D-72, D-76, D-85, and Ilford D-11; in holographic developers like the Russian GP-2; Agfa-Gevaert GP-61, and Nick Phillips #6.
Here is what the Photo-Lab Index from Morgan & Morgan has to say about it: