We mention a few of the early makers. There was Humphry Mills, who
is referred to in the minutes of the Incorporation of Hammermen,
Edinburgh, in 1661. There is an example of his work in the Antiquarian
Museum, Edinburgh, and we illustrate another in the Corporation
Museum at Glasgow (p. 259). This lantern clock, with brass dial and
fine fretwork with floriated design, is inscribed _Humphry Mills at
Edinburgh fecit_.
Richard Mills, or Milne, was apparently the nephew of Humphry, and was
admitted a freeman clockmaker at Edinburgh in 1678. He died in 1710.
Another early maker is John Alexander, of Edinburgh, made a freeman
in 1671, his trial being to make "ane Knok and mounting and ane sun
dyall," also a "Kist lock and key," this part of the locksmith's craft
being one of the necessary proofs of craftsmanship for admission as a
fully qualified Hammerman. He died in 1707. It is interesting to note
that he had to construct a sundial. The art of dialling is intricate,
and this indicates that the old clockmaker had a sound technical and
scientific knowledge. He was evidently no maker of clocks as "bits o'
mechanism," or an assembler of parts. He understood principles.
Thomas Gordon, apprentice to Andrew Brown, Edinburgh, 1688, was in
business for forty years and died in 1743. His nephew, Patrick Gordon,
was the son of Alexander Gordon, of Briggs, and seems to have been a
man of wealth, apart from his trade as a clockmaker. A fine example of
his work is illustrated (p. 263), a long-case clock having the door
of lacquered work in the "Chinese taste." On the case without the
panel is stencilled work, attempting to follow out the style of the
imported panel. This example indicates what has already been advanced
in the chapter on Lacquered Cases (pp. 110, 114), that such work was of
foreign origin. This panelled door is of oak.
Other seventeenth-century makers include Paul Roumieu, 1677 to 1694,
the first practical watchmaker who came to Edinburgh. Before that date
only clocks were attempted.
Paul Roumieu, jun., son of the above, was admitted as a freeman of
Edinburgh in 1692, and died in 1710.
=List of Eighteenth-century Scottish Makers.=--In regard to the
activities of Scottish clockmakers in comparison with their
fellow-craftsmen across the border, it is interesting to note that
there are very few examples of the early crown and verge escapement by
Scotch makers, but there are a great number of the anchor escapement.
Although invented by Hooke in 1675, this was not taken up readily. This
unwillingness to adopt new styles is a feature in clockmaking in the
provinces and in Scotland. The works of a clock are not unfrequently
put by the maker into a case belonging to a period of cabinet work
of some forty years previous. The clockmaker was an autocrat, and
compelled the case-maker to follow old traditions in making cases.
[Illustration: LONG-CASE CLOCK.
With door decorated in lacquer; remainder of case finished in stencil.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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