The Old Furniture Book, with a Sketch of Past Days and WaysMoore, N. Hudson
History
The Old Furniture Book, with a Sketch of Past Days and Ways
Moore, N. Hudson
Furniture
By 1288 a clock was placed in the Old Palace Yard, London, and remained
there till the reign of Queen Elizabeth. In 1292 a clock was placed
on Canterbury Cathedral, and in 1368 a striking clock was erected at
Westminster. By 1500, clocks were used in private houses, and watches
were introduced. In 1368 three Dutch clockmakers were invited to come
to England to teach the business to native workers, though "Dutch
clocks" and their makers were held in contempt some years later.
There was a clock put into the tower of Hampton Court Palace in 1540
by a maker whose initials were "N. O.", all that posterity knows of
him. It was the oldest clock in England that kept fairly good time. In
1575 George Gaver, "serjeant painter" as his title runs, had a sum of
money allowed him for "painting the great dial at Hampton Court Palace,
containing hours of day and night, and the course of sun and moon." In
1649 a striking part was added. By 1711 it was found that the clock had
not been running as correctly as it should, owing to the fact that some
careless or ignorant workman had removed some important parts of the
works. After this discovery it was left neglected for many years, and
finally lost its hands. It was in this condition in the first quarter
of the nineteenth century, when G. P. R. James wrote a poem entitled
"Old Clock Without Hands at Hampton Court."
In 1835 the old works were removed, and a set of works put in which
had been made in 1690 by Villiamy, for a clock in the Queen's Palace,
St. James' Park. As this clock was not powerful enough to drive the
astronomical works, these were put away. In 1880 this old clock was
also removed, sold for old brass, and a brand-new clock substituted.
It seems a pity that one of the earliest clocks known should have been
destroyed. It was not till 1639 that Galileo published his discovery of
the isochronous property of the pendulum, which was eight years after
the incorporation of the London Clockmakers Company. Not only did this
company train workers for clockmaking, but they also inspected clocks
brought into England, and rejected those which they deemed unworthy.
Richard Harris is said to have been the man who first connected the
pendulum with clockwork movement, about 1641, and Harris's method was
improved by Huyghens, so that by 1658 very trustworthy time-keepers
were in use. Mr. Lockwood in his book on "Colonial Furniture," says
that the first clock mentioned in the Massachusetts Colony was found
in Boston in 1638, but in Lechford's note-book it is said that Joseph
Stratton had of his brother in 1628 a clock and a watch. In 1640 Henry
Parks, of Hartford, left a clock by will to the church. The first clock
in New Haven belonged to John Davenport, who died in 1670.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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