Clocks · Longcase clock
Small Scottish longcase clock by Beveridge, Newburgh, c. 1810
- Maker / attribution
- Beveridge (maker)
- Date
- c. 1810
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Scotland
- Place
- Newburgh
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 451
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 451)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Small Scottish Longcase Clock by Beveridge of Newburgh (English)
View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 451), this is a longcase clock by Beveridge, made in Newburgh, Scotland, dated c. 1810. 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 6 ft 4 in (193 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 — P A Oxley
An excellent round dial Scottish mahogany longcase clock. The 8 day duration movement striking the hours on a bell and with a round painted dial showing seconds, date, matching brass hands of an unusual design and the makers name and place of work to the centre of the dial. The high quality mahogany case with well figured flame veneers to the trunk door and base, cross banding throughout and reeded quarter columns flanking the trunk door. The base with small bracket feet and an applied bead moulding. The hood with a lockable glazed brass bezel and with a plain broken arch top. Note: Robert Beveridge is listed as working in Newburgh, Fife during the first half of the 19th century. The style of this clock is typical of the Edinburgh area at this period and is a style that has become increasingly popular due to their small size and excellent proportions. Maker Beveridge of Newburgh
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
Related records
Clocks · c. 1820–1830
Bracket clock by Bryson, Edinburgh, c. 1820–1830
Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London
Clocks · c. 1820–1830
Bracket clock by J & W Howden, Edinburgh, c. 1820–1830
Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London
Clocks · c. 1810
Clock by Reid and Auld, Edinburgh, c. 1810
Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London
Clocks · c. 1810
Grandfather Clock by Robert Bryson, Edinburgh, c. 1810
Pendulum of Mayfair (dealer), London
Clocks · c. 1790
Grandfather Clock by James Gray, Edinburgh, c. 1790
Pendulum of Mayfair (dealer), London
Clocks · c. 1785
Grandfather Clock by Robert Clidsdale, Edinburgh, c. 1785
Pendulum of Mayfair (dealer), London
Clocks · c. 1795
Grandfather Clock by John Scott, Edinburgh, c. 1795
Pendulum of Mayfair (dealer), London
Clocks · c. 1790
Grandfather Clock by Thos Morgan, Edinburgh, c. 1790
Pendulum of Mayfair (dealer), London