Clocks · Clock
Clock by J Adkins & Sons, England, 1869
- Maker / attribution
- J Adkins & Sons (maker)
- Date
- 1869
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Coventry, West Midlands, England, United Kingdom, Coventry
- Object type
- Clock
- Dimensions
- overall: 310 mm x 290 mm x 190 mm,
- Holding institution
- Science Museum Group, London
- Accession / object no.
- 1983-7002/129
- Credit line
- British Rail, Historical Relics
- Catalogue title (original)
- Clock from Queen Victoria's Saloon
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Science Museum Group, London (object number 1983-7002/129), this is a clock by J Adkins & Sons, made in Coventry, West Midlands, England, United Kingdom, Coventry, dated 1869. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: overall: 310 mm x 290 mm x 190 mm. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
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
Science Museum Group description
Queen Victoria was the first British monarch to travel by train when she travelled on a Great Western Railway train from Slough to Paddington. After the journey, the Queen indicated that she had enjoyed the new experience. In 1869, Queen Victoria commissioned two railway coaches, which were built at Wolverton Works by the London & North Western Railway and designed by Richard Bore. This elaborate saloon was reputedly Queen Victoria’s favourite railway vehicle, having been built jointly at her and the LNWR’s expense, and was not replaced until after her death. Most of her long-distance journeys were over the London & North Western and Caledonian Railways, and the West Coast Route consequently developed an interest in the operation of the Royal Train. This vehicle started life as two separate six-wheel vehicles connected by a flexible gangway, the first to be fitted to coaches in this country. Eventually the two bodies were remounted on a new, twelve-wheel bogie underframe, which gave better riding and overcame the Queen’s dislike of having to pass from one vehicle to the other while it was in motion. On the lower exterior panels are painted the Royal Arms, and the badges of the Orders of the Bath, the Thistle, the Garter, and St Patrick. The interior is lavishly furnished with material all chosen by the Queen herself. The vehicle contains the Queen’s day and night compartments, toilet facilities and accommodation for her ladies-in-waiting and personal servant. The second bed in the Queen’s sleeping compartment was usually occupied by one of the royal princesses, it being regarded as a considerable privilege to travel with Her Majesty. The Queen refused to accept the fitting of gas lamps and, even though electric lights were eventually fitted at a later date, the oil lamps and candle holders were retained at the Queen’s request.
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Factory production transformed the clock into an everyday object. American makers (Seth Thomas, Ansonia, Waterbury) and German factories (Junghans, Gustav Becker, Lenzkirch) sold millions of shelf, wall and alarm clocks worldwide; France produced standardised Paris movements and carriage clocks; electric time distribution began.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific Horology
Atlas type guide
Domestic clocks
A clock combines four systems: a source of power (falling weight, coiled spring, or later electricity), a gear train that divides time, an escapement and oscillator that regulate it (foliot, pendulum or balance), and an indicating system of dial and hands or a bell. Its history runs from the large iron weight-driven clocks of the late thirteenth century to Renaissance spring-driven table clocks, the pendulum revolution of 1656, the factory clocks of the nineteenth century and electric and quartz clocks of the twentieth.
Domestic clocks also reflect regional furniture and decorative traditions — English longcase and bracket clocks, French pendules, Viennese regulators, Black Forest and American shelf clocks — and therefore record changing tastes as much as technical progress.
What to look for
- How the clock is powered: weights, spring barrel, fusee, electric coil.
- The oscillator: foliot, short pendulum, long seconds pendulum or balance.
- Whether it strikes: hour only (count wheel) or hours and quarters (rack striking).
- The maker or retailer's name on dial and movement, and any factory trademarks.
- Signs of alteration — replaced dials, converted escapements, 'married' cases.
Dating clues
- Before 1656 clocks used foliots or balances; after, most domestic clocks have pendulums.
- Anchor escapements spread after c. 1670; minute hands became common at the same time.
- Factory production in America and Germany transformed prices after c. 1840.
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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