Early Clocks | Lee Borrett
About
Lantern Clocks
The English lantern clock is one of the most distinctive and evocative forms of early domestic clockmaking. Emerging around the beginning of the seventeenth century, it developed from earlier European traditions into a recognisably English form that would remain in use for more than a century.
This page traces that fascinating development from the imported iron clocks and earliest English chamber clocks of the late Tudor period, through the first generation of London lantern clockmakers, and finally to the emergence of important provincial traditions such as the Bristol School. Illustrated with surviving clocks dating from the closing years of the sixteenth century onwards, it is intended to provide an introduction to the origins and early development of the English lantern clock.
The Earliest
English Lantern Clocks
The English lantern clock, or ‘house clock’, ‘chamber clock’ and simply ‘clock’, as it was variously known during the seventeenth century, first appeared in its familiar and well-loved form around the year 1600, at the end of the Elizabethan age.
Queen Elizabeth I (1533 -1603) was on the throne when the first English lantern clocks started to appear in England in about 1600. Alamy.com
The English lantern clock may have developed from the iron domestic clocks already being made by clockmakers across continental Europe, including in Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland. Wealthy English households requiring a convenient domestic timekeeper had imported examples of these clocks into this country. Apart from the elaborate sculptural and almost jewel-like spring-driven table clocks affordable only by the extremely wealthy, iron clocks represented one of the principal forms of domestic mechanical timekeeper available during the Tudor period from the reign of Henry VIII onwards.
Above. A late sixteenth-century Italian miniature iron wall clock dating from c.1595. Iron case and movement; weight-driven with verge escapement and foliot; striking-train with count-wheel set at a right-angle to the train. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum
Iron ‘Gothic’ clocks were essentially miniature versions of the tower, or turret, clocks already being made by blacksmith-clockmakers for churches and other public buildings. As these public clocks gradually spread across the country, much of the population remained dependent upon them for timekeeping, since domestic clocks for use in the home were generally beyond the means of all but the wealthy. Nevertheless, contemporary art provides evidence that domestic clocks were already finding their way into some important households. A working drawing of 1528 by Hans Holbein the Younger for his now-lost portrait of Sir Thomas More and his family, for example, shows what appears to be a ‘Gothic’ clock hanging on the wall in the background.
Above. An iron Gothic clock from the Renaissance period, probably made in Italy, c.1595. Private collection, photographed by Bill Sunderland.
The identity of the clockmaker who first produced the English lantern clock in brass remains unknown. At the turn of the seventeenth century there were only a handful of clockmakers working in this country, mainly in the Blackfriars area of London and many of these were refugees seeking to escape religious persecution in Catholic Europe. Some of these clockmakers have subsequently become quite well known, including Francis Nowe, John Vallin and, particularly, his son Nicholas. In the Victoria and Albert Museum in London is the earliest known domestic ‘chamber clock’, which can be proved to have been made in England. It is signed frauncoy Nowe fecit a London 1588. This clock is in an elaborately engraved brass case and although not of the familiar lantern clock design, with exposed pillars, it is very much recognisable as a forerunner of the lantern clock. The clock has, however, undergone later alterations, including the replacement of its original movement by a later seventeenth-century mechanism.
Above. The earliest known domestic ‘chamber clock’, with later alterations, that can be securely attributed to a maker working in England. It is signed ‘frauncoy Nowe fecit a London 1588’. Image © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
King James I 1566–1625
Queen Elizabeth I of England died at Richmond Palace on 24 March 1603 and was succeeded by her cousin twice removed, King James VI of Scotland (where he had ruled since 1567), uniting the crowns of Scotland and England.
Above. King James I of England and VI of Scotland by John de Critz, oil on canvas, 1610. Image by Alamy.com
James had barely got comfortable on his new English throne before a devastating outbreak of plague swept through London and the surrounding countryside. This was to be one of the deadliest instances of plague in England's history, eventually claiming around a quarter of London's population including the deaths of Francis Nowe and both John and Nicholas Vallin. Their surviving work nevertheless places them amongst the most important pioneers of English domestic clockmaking. As makers of some of the earliest weight-driven chamber clocks that can be securely attributed to craftsmen working in England, Francis Nowe and Nicholas Vallin must occupy an important place in the story from which the familiar English lantern clock subsequently emerged.
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A later representation of a plague doctor. The devastating London plague outbreak of 1603 caused tens of thousands of deaths and claimed, amongst many others, the early clockmakers Francis Nowe and John and Nicholas Vallin. Image by Alamy.com.
The
Earliest English
Lantern Clock Makers
Robert Harvie is generally regarded as the first native-born maker of English lantern clocks in London, and only a small number of his clocks are known to survive today. He made what is believed to be the earliest surviving English lantern clock, now preserved in the United States of America. Robert’s younger brother, Thomas, was apprenticed to him and inherited his tools and one of his clocks upon Robert’s death in 1615.
Other important first-generation London makers included Peter Closon, William Bowyer, William Selwood and John Cattle. Bowyer, one of the finest London makers of lantern clocks before the English Civil War, was established in Leadenhall Street by the 1620s. Peter Closon was working near Holborn Bridge by 1630, while William Selwood was established near the Bartholomew Lane end of Lothbury from the late 1620s. Beyond London, however, an important provincial tradition was also beginning to emerge at Bristol, where the workshop of James Browne and subsequently his son Thomas played a formative role in the development of the distinctive regional tradition later identified by Sir George White as the Bristol School of lantern clockmaking.
Above. Showing an early lantern attributed to Thomas Harvie c.1616. He was apprenticed to his older brother, Robert, who died in 1615 and left Thomas "one of my clokes ymediatly", along with a vice and some tools. Thomas Harvie was made free of the Clothworkers' Company in 1615 and took his first apprentice in 1616. Private collection, photographed by Bill Bruce.
Above. An early 17th century English miniature brass lantern clock dating c.1610 and probably made in London. Private collection, photographed by Bill Bruce.
Above. Fine early lantern clock signed ‘William Bowyer of London, Fecit’. Dating from c.1630, William Bowyer was one of the finest makers of lantern clocks working in London before the English Civil War and was amongst the relatively small number who continued working through the conflict. Private collection, photographed by Lee Borrett.
Below. The small early lantern clock shown here was made by William Selwood and is signed 'Wiliam Selwood at ye Maremaid in Louthbury'. The clock, which stands about 12 inches high, is very unusual for Selwood in having integral round-based pillars. These have the early round-shouldered urn finials and ball-and-ring feet. The ring-of-roses theme is apparent. This early form of meeting-arrowhead half-hour marker is very different from that found towards the end of the century and is sometimes called a ‘sword-hilt’. The fret is an unusual one of two grotesque boars’ heads. Private collection, photographed by Lee Borrett.
Another fascinating member of the first generation of London lantern clockmakers was John Cattle, who was born around 1608 and apprenticed through the Blacksmiths’ Company to John Green. He became free in July 1629 and by 1632 was working in the parish of St Saviour, Southwark, beyond the jurisdiction of the newly established Clockmakers’ Company. Brian Loomes records a lantern clock signed John Cattle beneath the alarm disc and dated 1633.
The remarkably early lantern clock illustrated below, dating from c.1633, has been attributed to John Cattle because of its very close similarity to this signed and dated example. Bill Bruce particularly noted the unusual bobbin-turned corner pillars, formed integrally with their feet and finials, together with the very early form of fret. He considered the similarities sufficiently close for an attribution to Cattle to be possible. The clock was formerly converted to a pendulum escapement but has since been reconverted to balance; its alarm had previously been removed. Like a number of very early London lantern clocks, it also retains an iron countwheel and an iron hoop to the locking wheel.
Above. Early London lantern clock, c.1633, attributed to John Cattle. Its distinctive bobbin-turned integral pillars and early fret are closely comparable with those of a lantern clock signed “John Cattle” beneath the alarm disc and dated 1633. Private collection, photographed by David Norris.
The Bristol School
of Lantern Clockmaking
The pioneering research of Sir George White first established the importance of Thomas Browne to early Bristol clockmaking. After examining Browne’s only known signed lantern clock in America, White recognised its close relationship to a group of previously anonymous clocks and used it as the key to identifying a distinctive regional tradition, for which he coined the description ‘the Bristol school of lantern clockmaking’. His findings were published in English Lantern Clocks in 1989.
More recent archival research by Professor Jonathan Barry has now added an important new dimension to that story. Barry’s examination of the original Bristol civic records shows that Thomas Browne was apprenticed to his father, James Browne, in 1637 and was not admitted to the Freedom of Bristol until November 1643. This new evidence suggests that the early Civil War lantern clock illustrated below, dating from around 1642, most likely originated in the workshop of James Browne while his son Thomas was serving his apprenticeship.
Considered alongside Thomas Browne’s only known signed lantern clock of c.1650, this remarkable early survivor may preserve an important stage in the development of the Browne family workshop, from the period of Thomas’s apprenticeship under his father James to the mature work subsequently produced under Thomas’s own name.
Above. This remarkable early Civil War lantern clock, c.1642, is now thought most likely to have originated in the workshop of James Browne of Bristol while his son Thomas was serving his apprenticeship there. It may represent one of the earliest surviving Bristol lantern clocks and an exceptionally early example from the formative years of what later became known as the Bristol School of lantern clockmaking. Private collection, photographed by Lee Borrett.
Below. When considered alongside Thomas Browne’s only known signed lantern clock of c.1650, this remarkable early survivor may preserve an important stage in the development of the Browne family workshop, from the period of Thomas’s apprenticeship under his father James to the mature work subsequently produced under Thomas’s own name. Private collection, photographed by Lee Borrett.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the following individuals and institutions for providing images, information and permission to reproduce material used in this article on early English lantern clocks.
Bill Bruce, for generously allowing me to use his research material and photographs on this website.
The private collectors who have kindly allowed me to illustrate clocks from their collections on this website.
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, for permission to reproduce images of the remarkable chamber clock signed ‘frauncoy Nowe fecit a London 1588’.
The British Museum, London, for permission to reproduce the image of the late sixteenth-century Italian miniature iron wall clock.
I would also like to acknowledge the important published research of the late Brian Loomes, including his work on Robert Harvie, which has contributed to the historical background presented in this article.
Sir George White, whose pioneering research established the modern study of the Bristol School of lantern clockmaking. After studying a group of anonymous lantern clocks sharing distinctive characteristics, Sir George travelled to Washington to examine the only known signed lantern clock by Thomas Browne in the collection of the late Norman Langmaid. The clock provided the crucial evidence linking the wider group to Bristol and, from this and his subsequent research, Sir George coined the description ‘the Bristol school of lantern clockmaking’. His research, published in English Lantern Clocks in 1989, remains fundamental to our understanding of these remarkable early Bristol clocks.
Professor Jonathan Barry, for generously sharing his recent archival research into James and Thomas Browne of Bristol. His examination of the original Bristol civic records has added important new evidence to Sir George White’s pioneering work and has greatly enhanced our understanding of the Browne family workshop and the early development of the Bristol School of lantern clockmaking.