Clocks · Longcase clock
Oak longcase clock by Humphrey Birch, Hoddesdon, c. 1775
- Maker / attribution
- Humphrey Birch (maker)
- Date
- c. 1775
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Hoddesdon
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- oak
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 11 in (211 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 409
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 409)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Oak Longcase Clock by Humphrey Birch of Hoddesdon (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 409), this is a longcase clock by Humphrey Birch, made in Hoddesdon, England, dated c. 1775. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: oak. Recorded dimensions: Height 6 ft 11 in (211 cm). The record is illustrated with 4 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 — P A Oxley
A good provincial oak longcase clock from the County of Hertfordshire. The 8 day duration five pillar movement striking the hours on a bell and with a 12" arched brass dial, a silvered brass chapter ring, matted centre showing seconds, date aperture, finely made blued steel hands and brass spandrels to both the arch and main dial. The arch also with a silvered brass cartouche showing the makers name and place of work. The well proportioned oak case with a long trunk door, brass escutcheon and a plain base with single plinth. The hood with attached pillars, gilt wooden capitals, inspection windows to both sides and a broken arch top. Note: Humphrey Birch is listed as a Watchmaker during the last part of the 18th century. Hoddesdon was a major Coaching stop and at one point over 35 Coaches would pass through the town each day on their way from London to Cambridge. Maker Humphrey Birch of Hoddesdon
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
Longcase (tall-case or grandfather) clocks
The longcase clock was born from two seventeenth-century innovations: Christiaan Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) and the anchor escapement (c. 1670). A long seconds pendulum, nearly a metre long, swings with a small arc, and enclosing it together with the driving weights in a tall wooden case protected the mechanism and created a new piece of furniture. London makers such as Ahasuerus Fromanteel, Thomas Tompion and Joseph Knibb set the pattern.
By the eighteenth century longcase clocks were made throughout Britain, the Netherlands, Scandinavia (the Swedish Mora clock), France (the Comtoise from the Franche-Comté), Germany and colonial America. Eight-day movements with two weights became standard in better clocks; thirty-hour clocks with one weight and a rope or chain were cheaper alternatives.
What to look for
- Winding holes in the dial: two (eight-day, going and striking) or none (thirty-hour, pulled up by a chain).
- Brass dials with applied chapter rings (earlier) versus painted iron 'white' dials (after c. 1770 in Britain).
- Moon-phase arches, date apertures, seconds dials and maker's name on the dial.
- Case woods and style: ebonised, walnut marquetry, lacquer, oak or mahogany; regional styles from London, Lancashire, Scotland or America.
- Whether the movement and dial match the case — 'marriages' are common.
Dating clues
- Square brass dials suggest c. 1670–1720; arched brass dials c. 1715–1790.
- Painted (white) dials were made by Birmingham dial-makers from about 1772.
- Comtoise clocks with repoussé pendulums are mostly nineteenth century.
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.
Read next:Anchor (recoil) escapementDeadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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