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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 April 2011
The seventeenth-century lantern clock in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries of London is shown to be one of the products of the post-Civil War boom in London domestic clockmaking. Its maker Thomas Knifton is found to be one of a close-knit group of house clockmakers working in the Parish of St Margaret's, Lothbury. His relationship with both the Clothworkers' and the Clockmakers' Company is explored. The clock is described, its founder's marks and unique dial-plate noted. The construction of its movement and subsequent alterations are explained in simple terms.
1 Guildhall Library MS 2711, vol. i, 1637–56, Clockmakers' Court Minutes, 4 October 1652 and 7 April 1651.
2 Guildhall Library MS 2710, vol. i, 1632–80, Clockmakers' Court Minutes, 25 July 1642.
3 Smith, John, Horological Dialogues (London, 1675), 31Google Scholar.
4 White, G. S. J., English Lantern Clocks (Woodbridge, 1987), chap. iGoogle Scholar.
5 Examples of contemporary spring clocks are the fine table clock with alarm by Henry Archer (Collection of the Worshipful Company of Clock-makers, catalogue no. 584), the square clock by David Bouquet (Science Museum, Inv. 1953–48), or the striking clock by David Ramsey (Victoria and Albert Museum, no. M7–1931). The cash value of a standard lantern clock of the period is hard to evaluate, but it was common for clockmakers to give a lantern clock to cover the fine payable on becoming an Assistant of the Clockmakers' Company (see above, note 1). The usual fine was ‘the sum of six pounds, thirteen shillings and four-pence’ (Company Bye-law number ten, 2 January 1631/2: Guildhall MS 3946A).
6 Cust, Lionel, ‘Notes on the Collections formed by Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel and Surrey K.G.’, Burlington Mag. (1911), pt. 2, 97–100Google Scholar, 233–6, and pt. 4, 341–3.
7 Wood, E. J., Curiosities of Clocks and Watches (London, 1866), 56–7Google Scholar, 60, 67; Dawson, P. G., Drover, C. B. and Parkes, D. W., Early English Clocks (Woodbridge, 1982), 18, 21Google Scholar; Beeson, C. F. C., ‘Some Tudor clock owners’, Antiq. Horology, iv (1963), 86–8Google Scholar.
8 Lloyd, H. Alan and Drover, C. B., ‘Nicholas Vallin 1565–1603’, Connoisseur Yearb. (1955)Google Scholar; also Creighton, C., The History of Epidemics in Britain (London, 1891)Google Scholar.
9 Nowé's clock was considerably altered internally during the seventeenth century, but the case engraved with designs after the work of Etienne Delaune and Abraham de Bryn is now the property of the Victoria and Albert Museum (no. M 39–1959). The clock by Vallin, loosely based on a design of Hans Vredeman de Vries (published c. 1560), is the property of the British Museum (no. CAI–2139). See Jervis, S. S., Printed Furniture Designs before 1650 (London, 1974), pl. 135Google Scholar.
10 White, op. cit. (note 4), chap. ii.
11 Ibid., chap. ii.
12 Turner, E., Brass (London, 1982), 11, 12Google Scholar.
13 Atkyns, S. E. and Overall, W. H., Some Account of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers of the City of London (London, 1881), 1–52Google Scholar.
14 White, op. cit. (note 4), chap. ii.
15 The Clockmakers' charter embraced all those ‘using, selling, buying, importing, exporting or anie waie trading in Clocks, Watches, Larums, Sundyalls, (spryngmaking and graveing), Casemaking, Mathematicall Instrumnts (makinge) in anie nature Condicion or materiall whatsoever by peecemayle, wholesale or retayle or by merchandizing …’ (Guildhall MS 3946A).
16 Guildhall MSS 2710 (vol. i) and 2711 (vol. i).
17 Jackson, C. J. in his History of English Plate (London, 1911), 215Google Scholar, observed that he knew of only one hall-marked piece of silver to have survived from the period 1644–5 and only three pieces from 1645–6. It will be seen below that many lantern clockmakers were members of the Clothworkers' Company. It is therefore significant that they too reached a very low ebb during the Civil War: ‘Court, September 7th 1643. This day also, this Court, taking into their sad and serious consideration the many great, pressing, and urgent occasions which they have for money as well as for the payment of their debts as otherwise, and considering the danger this city is in by reason of the great distractions and civil wars of this kingdom, have thought fit and so ordered that the stock of plate which this Company hath shall be forthwith sold at the best rate …’ (Ditchfield, P. H., The City Companies of London (London, 1904), 162)Google Scholar.
18 Notably Peter Closon, William Selwood, David Bouquet and John Pennock.
19 White, op. cit. (note 4), chap. iii.
20 Edwardes, E. L., The Story of the Pendulum Clock (Altrincham, 1977)Google Scholar; Ronan, C. A., Galileo (London, 1974), 242Google Scholar; Robinson, T., The Longcase Clock (Woodbridge, 1982)Google Scholar; Dawson, Drover and Parkes, op. cit. (note 7); Plomp, R., ‘The Dutch extraction of the Fromanteel family’, Antiq. Horology, vii (1971), 320Google Scholar; Loomes, B., ‘The Fromanteel story’, Antiq. Horology, ix (1975), 175Google Scholar; and Dobson, R. D., ‘Hugens, the secret in the Coster-Fromanteel “Contract”’, Antiq. Horology, xii (1980), 193Google Scholar.
21 Lantern clocks by Joseph Knibb and his brother John are illustrated in Lee, R. A., The Knibb Family Clockmakers (Byfleet, 1964)Google Scholar, pls. 172–6. Lantern clocks by Quare and Tompion may be seen in the British Museum. As an example of a lantern clock by a leading maker being provided for basic domestic timekeeping, see Thomson, G. S., The Russells of Bloomsbury (London, 1940)Google Scholar, where it is noted that the Duke of Bedford's housekeeper had ‘a Chamber clock by Tompion’ in her breakfast room (quoted in Symonds, R. W., Thomas Tompion his Life and Work (London, 1951), 124Google Scholar).
22 Clocks of the period known to the author are signed ‘Peter Closon Nere Hoborn Bridge Fecit’, ‘Jeffrey Bayley at the Turne Stile in Holburne Londini Fecit’, ‘Thomas Bakewell on towerhill Fecit’, ‘Thomas Milles in Shooe Lane Londini Fecit’ (Newarke Houses Museum, Leicester) and ‘George Poulle in s. Ans Lane Fecit’ (Kendal Museum). An advertisement placed by Ahasuerus Fromanteel in Mercurius Politicus (27 October 1658) gives his own address as ‘on the Bank-side in MOSSES-ALLEY, SOUTHWARK’.
23 This was a traditional metalworking area. John Stow in his Survey of London (London, 1598) described the people of Lothbury as ‘for the most part … founders, that cast candlesticks, chafing dishes, spice mortars and such like copper or latten works, and do afterward turn them with the foot, and not with the wheel, to make them smooth and bright with turning and scrating (as some do term it) making a loathsome noise to the by-passers that have not been used to the like …’.
24 Guildhall MS 4352/1.
25 Mercurius Politicus, 27 October 1658.
26 Guildhall MS 2710 vol. i.
27 Guildhall MS 2711 vol. i.
28 Clothworkers' apprenticeship records (unnumbered). Entry quoted in full in note 40, below.
29 Masterson had also begun his career as a Clothworker (freed December 1631) and subsequently transferred to the Clockmakers' (Clothworkers' records; kindly researched by D. E. Wickham, Archivist to the Company).
30 Atkyns, C. E., Register of Apprentices of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers (London, 1931), 80Google Scholar.
31 Ibid., 212.
32 Ibid., 184.
33 A clock now in an American collection is signed ‘Edward Norris at the X [crossed keys] Bethelem Londini fecit’. Another similar example is noted by Loomes, B., The Early Clockmakers of Great Britain (London, 1981), 413Google Scholar.
34 Many clocks, including that belonging to the Society, bear this address.
35 Two clocks in private collections known to the author are signed ‘Henry Ireland at ye dyall in Lothbury’.
36 Loomes, op. cit. (note 33), 183.
37 A clock now in a private collection in the west country is signed ‘Thomas Loomes at ye Mermayd in Lothbury’. Loomes was married to Mary, daughter of Ahasuerus Fromanteel. In his advertisement in Mercurius Politicus, 27 October 1658, Fromanteel offered pendulum clocks both at ‘his house on the Bank-side in MOSSES-ALLEY, SOUTHWARK and at the sign of the Maremaid in LOTHBURY, near BARTHOLOMEW-LANE end, London’.
38 Guildhall MS 3974.
39 Calculated from his age recorded at burial (Guildhall MS 4515/4).
40 ‘On 10th November 1632 Thomas Kniffon, son of Thomas of Nottingham, Notts, Chandler, was apprenticed for 8 years from the previous Michaelmas to William Selwood’ (Clothworkers' apprenticeship records).
41 Clothworkers' freedom records.
42 Guildhall MS 4352/1, 149.
43 Ibid., 155.
44 Ibid., 152, 165, 167, 174–5, 181, 184, 188, 192, 193, 199, 203, 210, 214, 221, 223, 230, 234.
45 Ibid., 162, 183.
46 Ibid., 155–7.
47 Ibid., 158–60. This declaration may be of significance when considering the material used in making the dial of the Society's clock. See ‘The dial’, below.
48 Ibid., 187.
49 Ibid., 257.
50 Guildhall MS 4515/4.
51 The only known references to Thomas Knifton in the Clockmakers' Minute Books concern the binding and freeing of his apprentices.
52 Guildhall MSS 2710, vol. i, and 2711, vol. i, and MS 3939.
53 The author has recorded twenty-three examples of Thomas Knifton's work.
54 Four of his 18½ in. clocks are recorded at present. The larger clock is in a private collection in London. Other large lantern clocks survive from this period, especially by Peter Closon of Holborn, but these are all quarter-chiming.
55 See the description of the Society's clock, below.
56 The clock by Sellwood was formerly in the author's possession. The clock by Knifton is in a private collection in London. The clock by Ireland is in a private collection in Gloucestershire.
57 The ‘matchstick man’ mark has been found on lantern clocks by William Sellwood, Thomas Knifton, John Ebsworth, Nicholas Coxeter, Peter Closon and John Lyon. It has been found on other clocks signed by Thomas Harness, James Clowes and Joseph Knibb. Attempts to attribute it to a specific founder have so far met with failure, but a wild speculation on the part of the author is that the mark could be connected with a Mr Man, whose name appears several times in the Lothbury vestry records (Guildhall MS 4352/1), but whose profession is as yet unknown. In this connection, a capital ‘M’ mark was found on the bellstrap of the lantern clock by Nicholas Coxeter (which also had a ‘matchstick man’ in its movement) and another ‘M’ on a small lantern clock by Henry Jones.
58 Guildhall MS 3974.
59 Mr E. Law of London S.E.7.
60 Loomes, op. cit. (note 33), 486.
61 F. J. Britten included an engraving of this clock in its original form in his Old Clocks, Watches and their Makers (London, 1899). This led to a reappraisal of its historic importance by the Haberdashers' Company, who maintain Adams's School. Their decision was to replace the original wheel-work with a new eight-day spring-driven movement driving two hands. The back of the case is now inscribed ‘New Works by R. Webster, Queen Victoria Street, Presented by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers 1901, W. Tudor, Master’.
62 The author is grateful to G. Baumgartner of Schaffhausen for this information. Both clocks are in his collection.
63 John Hopkins kindly instituted a search of the Society's records on behalf of the author, but has been unable to discover the date of acquisition. The clock is not listed in a 1918 inventory, but is listed in 1946. It must be assumed, therefore, that it came into the possession of the Society between those dates.
64 Macklin, H. W., Monumental Brasses, revised by J. Page Phillips (London, 1969)Google Scholar. Also Stephenson, Mill, A List of Monumental Brasses in the British Isles (London, 1938)Google Scholar, appendix.
65 David Todd of the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, who conserved this clock in 1976, reports that its dial-plate was adapted from a lantern clock door.
66 Britten, F. J., Old Clocks, Watches and their Makers (London, 1904), 447Google Scholar.
67 An example by Wheeler is illustrated in Phillips (Edinburgh) auction catalogue (24 June 1983, lot 98). An example by Davis is the property of F. Kung of St Gallen, Switzerland. That by Henry Ireland is in a private collection.
68 Mackay, C., Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (London, 1852)Google Scholar.
69 e.g. the dial of the clock signed ‘Thomas Wheeler, Londini fecit’ (Victoria and Albert Museum, no. M.2.1936). In 1977 David Todd conserved a balance clock signed ‘Thomas Knifton at the X [crossed keys] Lothbury Londini’ with this style of engraving on its dial-plate.
70 White, op. cit. (note 4), chap. ii.
71 The top left-hand petal of the rose is clearly constricted by the tulip head above it and graver cuts from the rose enter the earlier cuts in the annular pattern in many places.
72 As viewed from the back.
73 Smith, op. cit. (note 3), 43.
74 White, op. cit. (note 4), chap. ii.
75 18½ in. clock: private collection, west midlands.
76 In the collection of the Science Museum, South Kensington (no. 1951–217).
77 Property of Adams's School, Newport, Shropshire.
78 Britten, op. cit. (note 65), 452.
79 White, op. cit. (note 4), chap. ii.
80 RevdDerham, William, The Artificial Clockmaker (1st edn., London, 1696), 3Google Scholar.
81 Smith, op. cit. (note 3), 10.
82 Ibid., 14.
83 Ibid., 16.
84 Derham, W., The Artificial clockmaker (4th edn., London, 1759)Google Scholar, preface.
85 Going train. The 'scape wheel 19 teeth with a pinion of 6 leaves. The second wheel 54 teeth with a pinion of 7 leaves. The great wheel 56 teeth with a pinion-of-report of 4. The dial wheel 48 teeth. Striking train. The fly pinion 6 leaves. The warning wheel 48 teeth with a pinion of 6 leaves. Hoop wheel 54 teeth with a pinion of 7 leaves. Great wheel 56 teeth with a pinion-of-report of 4 leaves and 8 pins to lift the striking hammer. Count wheel 39.
86 Judging by the original doors on the clock signed ‘THOMAS KNIFTON FECIT’ now in a midlands collection, the mitre-shaped brass handle is the original one.
87 The fly is original and of a characteristic Knifton shape, but the new pinion has been moved aside from its original hole, necessitating some bending of the top plate of the frame.
88 Listed in Loomes, B., Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World, II (London, 1976), 177Google Scholar, as ‘OXBROW, William, Braintree 1851–74’.
89 In the collection of the Louvre, Paris.
90 In the collection of the National Gallery, London.
91 Smith, op. cit. (note 3), 18, 44.
92 Derham, op. cit. (note 80), 62, 71. Two kinds of conversion were possible at this date. The first was to a verge escapement and short (or ‘bob’) pendulum, which was hardy and easy to set up. The second was to an anchor escapement with a long or ‘Royal Pendulum’ (introduced a little later, c. 1670), which was more delicate but kept more accurate time.
93 Smith, J., Horological Disquisitions Concerning the Nature of Time (London, 1694), 58Google Scholar, 59. ‘Royal’ pendulums were so called because they were said to have dominion over their clocks.
94 White, op. cit. (note 4), chap. ix.
95 A balance clock is regulated by adjusting the going train weight and therefore requires a second constant weight for its striking train. A pendulum clock is regulated by adjustment to its pendulum and therefore can be driven by one weight shared between the trains. An ingenious arrangement using looped cord was introduced by Christian Huygens in 1658, which not only included the convenience of a single weight, but also ensured continuous weight on the going train during winding and so to some degree improved timekeeping (Christiani Hvgenii à Zvlichem, Horologium (The Hague, 1658), 10).
96 Richard Row of Epperstone is recorded as 1680–1720 (Mather, H. H., Clock and Watch Makers of Nottingham (Nottingham, 1979), 77Google Scholar). The presence of the clock in a village near Nottingham in 1689 may suggest that Knifton kept trading links with Nottingham, his birthplace.
97 Hoopes, Penrose R., Connecticut Clockmakers of the Eighteenth Century (Hartford, Conneticut, 1930), 17Google Scholar.
98 The best-known unaltered example is that signed ‘Samuel Stretch Fecit’ (illus. Dawson, Drover and Parkes, op. cit. (note 7), pls. 58–60). A second example is the British Museum's anonymous clock (Octavius Morgan Bequest, 88–12/1 145).
99 Clues to the existence of a previous escapement are the blocked holes in the top plate where the back cock fitted, the semi-circle cut from the hammer shaft, made so that the hammer would not collide with the anchor pallets, another cut-out in the iron supporting hoop, made to allow the pendulum to swing, and alteration to the top of the front movement bar, where the front pallet cock was fitted.
100 Garrard, F. J., Clock Repairing and Making (Kingston Hill, 1950), 152Google Scholar.
101 Wenham, E., Old Clocks for Modern Use (London, 1951), 40Google Scholar.
102 Reported in Antiq. Horology, iii (1960), 123Google Scholar.
103 Letter to the author dated 21 January 1987.