Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by Webster & Son, Cornhill, London, c. 1840–1850
- Maker / attribution
- Webster & Son (maker)
- Date
- c. 1840–1850
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Cornhill, London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Dimensions
- Height 23 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 5110
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (product 5110)
- Catalogue title (original)
- WEBSTER & SON. A fine early Victorian period rosewood hour-striking four-glass mantel clock (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number Product 5110), this is a bracket clock by Webster & Son, made in Cornhill, London, England, dated c. 1840–1850. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 23 cm. The record is illustrated with 5 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Dealer description — Howard Walwyn
A fine early Victorian period rosewood 8-day hour-striking English four-glass mantel clock with beautifully engraved gilt dial and gong strike by this top London maker/retailer. The case is veneered in richly figured rosewood and has a flat top with a rectangular glazed aperture, above a moulded cornice and a narrow dentil frieze. The front door is framed by a broad rosewood surround with mitred corners, enclosing the dial within a gilt sight edge. There are glazed side panels, and the stepped base has bold mouldings and stands on four brass bun feet. The clock is fitted with a substantial cast brass carrying handle to the top, with shaped foliate terminals. The square gilt brass dial is signed Webster & Son, Cornhill, London beneath XII. It has a circular Roman chapter ring with minute markers between, and the centre and corner areas are filled with engraved scrolling foliate ornament. The clock retains its Breguet-style blued steel hands. The two-train movement sounds the hours on a coiled gong mounted to the backplate . It has a platform lever escapement, with regulation marked Fast and Slow . The backplate is signed by the maker, Webster & Son, Cornhill, London . Height : 9 in (23 cm) handle down Width : 6 in (15.25 cm) Depth 5 ½ in (14 cm) * Webster & Son, Cornhill, London , was the trading name and address of the Webster family firm. Richard Webster is recorded by the British Museum as active from 1800 to 1849, at 43 Cornhill and 26 Change Alley, and as succeeded by his son Richard. The British Museum also records R Webster Junior & Co at 74 Cornhill from 1849, noting that father and son had previously been in partnership. The firm was closely connected with the Clockmakers’ Company. Company records printed by Atkins and Overall show Richard Webster elected to the livery in 1810, later serving as Junior Warden in 1824 and Renter Warden in 1825. The Webster business itself was older, descending from William Webster of the Dial and Three Crowns, Change Alley, active 1727-1776. Surviving work shows that Webster and Webster & Son were associated above all with high-grade watches and marine chronometers, though the Cornhill signature also appears on high quality domestic clocks. HW6684
Historical context
Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
Harrison solves longitude; Mudge invents the lever; Breguet's Paris workshop defines the modern watch.
The age of the deadbeat escapement, compensated pendulums and observatory regulators. Domestic clocks spread through the middle classes: English longcase and bracket clocks, French gilt-bronze mantel clocks, Viennese Biedermeier wall clocks, Black Forest painted-shield clocks, and the first American shelf clocks.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Early Modern Horology
Atlas type guide
Bracket, table and spring-driven clocks
Spring-driven clocks freed timekeeping from the hanging weight. The coiled mainspring, documented from the fifteenth century, made portable table clocks possible; to even out its declining force, makers used the fusee, a conical pulley connected to the barrel by a gut line or chain. Renaissance table clocks from Augsburg and Nuremberg — drum-shaped, square or tower-shaped in gilt brass — were luxury scientific objects, often with astronomical dials and alarms.
After the pendulum, English makers developed the bracket clock: a wooden case with a carrying handle, a short pendulum with a verge escapement, and often repeating work to sound the hours on demand at night. Later examples use the anchor escapement. In the nineteenth century, 'table clock' became a broad term for spring clocks of every nationality.
What to look for
- A fusee in the movement (cone-shaped pulley) and the type of line — gut or chain.
- Verge escapement with a short bob pendulum, often with a decoratively engraved backplate.
- Repeat cords or buttons that make the clock strike again on demand.
- Gilt-brass engraved cases and horizontal dials on Renaissance pieces.
- Case shapes: inverted bell, bell top, break-arch, lancet or balloon.
Dating clues
- Drum and tower table clocks: c. 1520–1650.
- Ebony veneered English bracket clocks with verge escapements: c. 1670–1800.
- Engraved backplates were usual on English clocks until c. 1800, then generally plain.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
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