Chats on Old Clocks

by Arthur Hayden

LONG-CASE EIGHT-DAY CLOCK.
Decorated in marquetry.
Maker, Joseph Knibb (Oxon). Date about 1690.

GEORGIAN SPANISH MAHOGANY LONG-CASE CLOCK.
Hood enriched with fretwork in Chinese style of Chippendale. Terminals of carved mahogany.
Maker, Cockey (Warminster).
(By courtesy of Messrs. D. Sherratt & Co., Chester.)

A fine bracket clock by Joseph Knibb, in date about 1690, is illustrated (p. [181]). This is of the same period as the long-case clock, the year when William of Orange defeated James II at the battle of the Boyne, and James, the last of the Stuarts, fled into France. It is possible that the fortunes of Joseph Knibb were bound up with Whitehall. At the Revolution in 1689 our Court clockmaker no doubt retreated into Oxfordshire to continue his creations which we now know. A cloud of unpaid debts must have hung over him, for the Stuarts were bad paymasters.

The West Country.—In publishing lists of clockmakers collected by local antiquaries, a loyal service has been rendered to the West Country by the Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries. The following list is based on the researches published in that journal by R. Pearse-Chope, Esq., [4] and by H. Tapley-Soper, Esq. [5]

• Balle, John (Exeter).
• Bickle, R. H. (Bishop's Nympton).
• Bradford (Tiverton).
• Bradford (Drayford).
• Braund, John (Hatherleigh).
• Brayley and Street (Bridgwater).
• Bucknell, Jas. (Crediton).
• Chamberlain, Hen. (Tiverton).
• Chasty, Robert (Hatherleigh).
• Chasty, William (Teignmouth).
• Day, Christopher (South Molton).
• Drake, R. (Beaminster).
• Eastcott, Richard (Exon).
• Edward, Clement, c. 1671.
• Ezekiel (Exon), c. 1794.
• Follet (Sidmouth).
• Foster, James (Ashburton).
• Fox, John (Alverton).
• Gard, Henry (Exeter).
• Gard, William (Exeter).
• Gaydon, J. (Barnstaple).
• Gould (Bishop's Nympton).
• Gould, G. (South Molton).
• Harding, Charles (Sidmouth).
• Harner (Membury).
• Hayward, Peter (Crediton), c. 1766.
• Howard, Wm., 1760.
• Hutchins, William (Cullompton).
• Huxtable (Chittlehampton).
• Huxtable, E. (South Molton).
• Jacobs, A. (Torquay).
• Jonas, Saml. (Exon), 1783.
• Keffutt, Walter (Exon).
• Lord, John (Farringdon).
• Lovelace, Jacob (Exeter), died 1766.
• Mallett, Peter, 1705.
• Mallett, John (Barnstaple), 1840.
• March, R. (Honiton).
• Otercey, John (Torrington).
• Passmore, R. (Barnstaple).
• Pile, Fra. (Honiton).
• Pollard (Crediton), 1760.
• Pollard, Thomas (Exeter).
• Price (Wiveliscombe).
• Rew, Joseph (Wiveliscombe).
• Routledge, George (Lydford), died 1801.
• (Epitaph Lydford Churchyard.)
• Sanderson, Geo. (Exeter).
• (Maker and patentee of tools for duplicating parts of watches, 1761.)
• Scoble, John S. (Colyton).
• Simons, A. (Bideford).
• Skinner (Exon).
• Snell, E. (Barnstaple).
• Stocker (Honiton).
• Strowbridge (Dawlish).
• Stumbel (Totnes).
• Thorn (South Molton).
• Thorne, Sim (Tiverton), 1740.
• Thorne, Michl. (South Molton).
• Tickle, John (Crediton), 1730.
• Upjohn, Richard (Exon).
• (Long-case clock, c. 1730.)
• Upjohn, Wm. (Exeter), 1741.
• Upjohn, Peter (Bideford).
• (Watch, 1780.)
• Weller, Geo. (Exon).
• Wood, I. (Exon).
• Waldron, John (Tiverton).
• Dates from church registers, family Bibles, old wills, marriage records, and old newspapers to amplify local lists such as this add greatly to their value in establishing period of clock.

[ [4]1912-13, p. 242.

[ [5] 1914-15, pp. 204, 205; and July 1917.