Lantern clock
George Harris (1614-94)
Category
Horology
Date
1668
Materials
Brass, Pine
Measurements
2125 x 430 mm
Place of origin
Fritwell, Oxfordshire
Order this imageCollection
Cotehele, Cornwall
NT 347886
Summary
Brass, one-handed lantern clock with pierced and engraved ornament. The face is inscribed with ‘George Harris of Fritwell 1668’ (Fritwell is in Oxfordshire). The clock is fitted in a painted softwood case. It is tempting to speculate that the case was a later creation, but several clock experts have questioned this, suggesting instead that the pairing of the case and the clock might be authentic.
Provenance
It is not known how or when this clock was acquired by the Edgcumbe family. The clockmaker, George Harris, is described in 'Clockmakers of Oxfordshire' by Mr Beeson: "Harris, George - Fritwell (1614-1694). C. & W., blacksmith, turret clock maker. Son of Jeffrey Harris of Fritwell, baptised 19 January 1614. By his first marriage children were born from March 1643 to May 1651. Second marriage to Betteris Toms of Glympton at Chipping Norton on 16 October 1654: children born from September 1655 to December 1666. In the Hearth Tax of 1665 he paid for one hearth, his forge being exempt. His Will dated 12 March 1693, proved 4 June 1694, showed that he owned a house and two workshops, a close, a quarter land and livestock. The estate including land and buildings was valued at £75 8s. 0d. He was succeeded in business by his son Nicholas (1657-1738). The inventory of his effects made in May 1694, includes, Wearing apparel and money in purse, £20; 2 cows and a calf, £7 10s. 0d.: 1 hog, £1 3s. 0d.: crops growing in the field land, £5: malt in the house, £1 10s. 0d.: in parlor and other lumber, £1: in the buttery 4 tubs and stand and other things, £1 5s. 0d.: 4 kettles, 2 brass pots, 1 brass pan, 3 possets and other brass, £2 10s. 0d.: pewter all sorts, £1: 10 pairs sheets, table cloth and napkins, £5: in the new chamber a bed, bedstead and other furniture, £3: in the middle chamber a bed, bedstead, trunks and boxes, etc., £2 10s. 0d.: in the chamber over the shop other furniture, £1 10s 0d.: tools in the shop, £15 -- Total. £75 8s. 0d. Lantern clocks with a unique feature. The great wheel in each train is provided with a barrel grooved for a gut line, and a second toothed wheel which engages with a large pinion mounted on an arbor pivoted in cocks on the base plate. The arbors protrude through winding holes in the chapter ring V and VII. (a) Centre of dial engraved with a Tudor rose and tulips, signed above, George Harris in Fritwell fecit, carved iron hand with tail, dolphin frets, verge escapement and bob pendulum, loop and spikes (coll. J. M. Surman) Plate 20, figs. 37, 38, and text figure on p.84. (b) Similar but with an alarm dial and the chapter ring inlaid with black and red wax, alarm work on the back plate: mounted on a panelled oak pillar case (coll. J. A. K. Fergie). [section of text missing]....on the top plate on a shaft pivoted horizontally, with its buffer spring, it is linked by a rod to the hour-strike lever pivoted in the bearing bars in the normal way (Cothele House, Cornwall). This is the earliest dated lantern clock made in the County. Turret clock with crown wheel and verge escapement made in 1671 for Hanwell Church. Plate 1, fig. 1. Repaired the South Newington church clock in 1669 and Yarnton church clock in 1682."
Marks and inscriptions
George Harris of Fritwell 1668
Makers and roles
George Harris (1614-94), horologist