Clocks · Longcase clock
Regulator grandfather clock by Stephenson, Warminster, c. 1830
- Maker / attribution
- Stephenson (maker)
- Date
- c. 1830
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Warminster
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 7 ft 0 in (213 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 201
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 201)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Antique Regulator Grandfather Clock by Stephenson of Warminster (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 201), this is a longcase clock by Stephenson, made in Warminster, England, dated c. 1830. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height 7 ft 0 in (213 cm). The record is illustrated with 6 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
An interesting and impressive Regulator longcase clock with rare centre date feature. The substantial 8 day duration movement with shouldered plates, six spoke wheel work, six large plate pillars, deadbeat anchor escapement, maintaining power and with beat adjustment to the top of the pendulum. The seatboard fitted with a mechanism to allow the brass weight to travel left of centre , thus giving you a clear view of the Mercurial pendulum which is hung from the backboard of the case. The 13" silvered brass dial with two winding holes, one of which is simply to balance the dial and is not actually a working part of the clock. The typical engraved regulator layout for hours, minutes and seconds are displayed on the dial but unusually a date has also been engraved within the minute ring. The superb flame mahogany case elaborately decorated with carved mounts, a glazed trunk door with canted corners to the side and a veneered backboard incorporating a slivered brass beat scale. The flame mahogany case also with carved mounts and single plinth with pads to each corner. The hood again with canted corners, carved mounts, crested top and a glazed access door for the dial. Note: This unusual Regulator longcase clock has the very rare and possibly unique feature of a centre date. Regulators were made for a precision purpose which in turn would mean that features such as date or strike were not used. This clock however has been ordered with a date, a very rare feature to find on a Regulator dial. George Stephenson was apprenticed to his Father along with his brother Henry. They had a very successful business and were prolific makers of longcase clocks. He died in 1837. This clock also has a possible association to Winston Churchill. Inside the door of the clock (as shown on the images) is a typed inscription which reads ...Property of Col. W. Churchill H... Winston Churchill was made a Lt Col in 1916. He was in command of the 6th Battalion for the Royal Scots Fusilers. The rank of Lieutenant Colonel is often shortened to simply Colonel in conversation and in unofficial correspondence. The known history that we have with this clock so far is that it was purchased approximately 30-50 years ago from a private house near Oxford. Winston Churchill was of course born in Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire and earlier in his Army career he was based near Oxford at the 4th Queens Own Hussars. Maker Stephenson of Warminster
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:Deadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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