Wall clock by George Yonge, c. 1816

Dealer description — Howard Walwyn

A fine Regency period mahogany fusee dial wall timepiece with wooden dial and with a movement supplied by Thwaites and Reed, London. The five pillar single fusee movement , with tapered plates measuring 7 ¾ inches high by 4 ¾ inches wide at the base, has an anchor escapement regulated by a lenticular bob pendulum. The frontplate is stamped T & R over serial number 5774 . The 12-inch circular integral cream painted Roman numeral wooden dial is inscribed GEO’E YONGE, Strand, LONDON to the centre and has pierced brass hands which are set behind a hinged convex glazed cast brass cavetto moulded bezel applied within slender caddy moulded wooden surround. The box case is secured by pegs incorporating a door to the right hand side and with a pendulum access flap to the curved underside. The rear of the dial panel is inscribed with notes for inscribing the dial for George Yonge dated 1816. Diameter : 14 ¼ in (36 cm) Depth : 7 in (18 cm) * George Yonge is recorded in G.H Baillie’s Watchmakers & Clockmakers of the World as a ‘fine maker’ working in London 1776-1815. Online sources indicate that he worked from 131 Strand, took his son into partnership in 1820 and worked up until 1832. Ainsworth Thwaites was apprenticed in 1735 and worked from Rosoman Row, Clerkenwell, London 1751-80. He was an accomplished maker who supplied the clock for the tower at the Horse Guards Parade. His son, John, was born in 1757 and took over the business presumably on the death of Ainsworth in 1780 before moving to Bowling Green Lane. He entered into partnership with Jeremiah Reed in 1808 and the firm subsequently became well known for supplying all forms of clocks and movements either wholesale for others to retail or signed by themselves. The partnership continued under John Thwaite’s leadership from several addresses in London until his death in 1842. The business has subsequently passed through a series of successors and is still trading today from Rottingdean near Brighton. Ronald E. Rose in his book English DIAL CLOCKS provides data allowing clocks by Thwaites and Reed to be dated from their serial number (Appendix III page 239); from this list the serial number of the movement of the current lot suggests that it was made around 1817. HW6571