Early Clocks | Lee Borrett
The Earliest
English Lantern Clocks
Lantern Clocks. The English lantern clock, or ‘house clock’, 'chamber clock' and 'clock' as it was 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
It was possibly a direct development from the iron clocks, which had been made by clockmakers across Europe including Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland and which wealthy households in England, requiring a convenient domestic clock, had imported into this country. These iron clocks, apart from some elaborate sculptural and almost jewel-like spring table clocks affordable only by the extremely wealthy, were really the only available domestic clocks during the Tudor era from the reign of Henry VIII onwards.
Above. A late 16th century Italian miniature iron wall clock dating about c1595. 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 are a miniature version of the tower, or turret, clock. These turret clocks were being made by blacksmith-clockmakers and they were slowly spreading across the country into church towers and other public places. The population of England was reliant on these public clocks for their time keeping, as domestic clocks for use in the home were unavailable except for the very rich. However, evidence does exist for the early use of domestic clocks, in home surroundings in contemporary art. For example a working drawing of 1528 for a painting, now lost, by Hans Holbein, the Younger of Sir Thomas More and his family sitting in a group with, in the background, a ‘Gothic’ clock hanging on the wall.
Above. An Iron Gothic clock from the renaissance period. Probably made in Italy around c1595. Private Collection, Photographed by private collector.
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 from catholic Europe. Some of these clockmakers have subsequently become quite well known, such as Francis Nowe and John Vallin and especially 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. However, the clock has undergone later alterations including the mechanism of the clock itself which is a later seventeenth century replacement.
Above. Showing the earliest known domestic ‘chamber clock’, (with later alterations) which can be proved to have been made in England. It is signed frauncoy Nowe fecit a London 1588. Image ©Victoria & 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. However, it should be recognised that as they made the first weight driven chamber clocks that can be definitely attributable to makers working in England. Thus, Francis Nowe and Nicholas Vallin must be regarded as the fathers of the lantern clock as we have come to know it.
.jpg)
Plague Doctor. Image by Alamy.com. A plague doctor was a physician who treated victims of bubonic plague during epidemics mainly in the 16th and 17th century. These physicians were hired by cities to treat infected patients regardless of income, especially the poor that could not afford to pay. wikipedia.org. There were 30,000 deaths in London due to the plague in 1603 including that of Francis Nowe and both John and Nicholas Vallin.
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 and William Selwood. Bowyer, who was probably the finest London maker 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.
Above. An early 17th century English miniature brass lantern clock dating c.1610 and probably made in London. Private collection, Photographed by Bill Bruce.
Below. Showing an early lantern attributed to Thomas Harvie c1616. 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.
Below. Fine early lantern clock by William Bowyer of London. Date c1630. William Bowyer was probably the finest maker of lantern clocks in London up to the English Civil War and is one of the very few makers who continued working through the war. Private collection, Photographed by Lee Borrett.
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 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.
Acknoweledgements
I would like to thank the following for providing me with images and for allowing me to use any previously published material for this article on early lantern clocks.
​
Bill Bruce who allowed me to use his own material for this website.
​
The private collector(s) who allowed me to use mage(s) of their clock on this website
​
Victoria & Albert Museum, London who allowed me to use images of the earliest known domestic ‘chamber clock’ signed frauncoy Nowe fecit a London 1588.
The British Museum, London who allowed me to use images of a late 16th 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.
​