MONTH-GOING LONG CASE CLOCK
Marquetry of walnut and other woods
Inscribed ‘Edward Speakman Londoni fecit’, made about 1700

Dial:
Nominally eleven inch square. Brass dial plate with ringed winding holes and seconds aperture, matted centre with curly engraving around calendar aperture behind which is silvered calendar ring. Cherubs head spandrels screwed to corners of dial plate, silvered chapter ring and subsidiary seconds ring pinned at back of dial plate. Minute ring set in from edge of chapter ring by a scale having Arabic five minute numerals, the double figures being split either side of an extended five minute stroke. No half quarter marks. Roman hour numerals. Quarter hour divisions with half hour marks of arrow heads and semi-circles. Signed between VII and V on chapter ring Edw Speakman Londini fecit. Seconds ring with its scale of Arabic five seconds numerals mirrors chapter ring with extended strokes at five second intervals, but is sufficiently small in diameter to expose a portion of matted dial centre between bottom of ring and central aperture of the dial. Concealed by the chapter ring adjacent to the calendar aperture, the dial plate is engraved: John Andrews Thó Weeler John Benson. Dial attached to front plate by four dial feet pinned to movement.

Hands:
Pierced and carved steel minute and hour hands, small seconds hand with slight chamfer to outside surface.

Movement:
Month duration brass and steel, weight driven, two train movement. Hour striking on bell controlled by outside countwheel mounted external to backplate and driven via a brass pinion mounted on an extension of the striking pin wheel. Going train with recoil anchor escapement. Five pillar movement, each slender pillar having fins and semi-circular central knop, being riveted to backplate, pinned at front. Three pillars are located towards the top of movement, two at the bottom. Collets where used to mount wheels on arbors, of semi-circular profile; arbors swell towards centres, excepting the striking pin wheel, itself having a parallel arbor and distinctive pulley-shaped collet. Where visible without dismantling, scribe lines present on wheel faces. Particularly noticeable on striking side is tendency of gear teeth pitch to become significantly finer higher up the train. Pallets, embracing 8½ teeth, are of broad appearance with noticeable pads and are mounted on pallet arbor with a semi-circular collet. Unused holes on backcock. Vacant holes on frontplate by present pallet arbor hole. Plugged holes, some threaded, evident on backplate and backcock. Additional vacant holes by fly arbor and calendar post. Hour wheel bridge of lenticular shape coming to a point at each foot.

Description and notes by Francis Brodie, c. 2008

Bequeathed by Miss E. Rothwell

Edward Speakman longcase clock

Bequeathed by Miss E Rothwell formerly of Stone House Old Barn, Halsted, Knockholt, Kent. She was the daughter of the painter S Rothwell, who was a close friend of J Burgess.

Notes from R.P. 2610

3 September 1956
Notification of Miss Rothwell's bequest of objects formerly in the collection of Wm Edwardes Miller includes "1) Grandfather clock - inlaid - by Edward Speakman". Miller died in 1940; he is described in a letter dated 17/5/40 from Miss Rothwell to Mr Bedford as "my wonderful guardian & companion". Miller was a F.S.A.

15 September 1956 memo, Hayward to the Director
reports that "the clock by Edward Speakman, which has a walnut case inlaid with lforal marquetry of about 1700, is worthy of acceptance".


Comments:
Dial: Its size, being not twelve inches, in combination with the comparatively narrow outer Arabic five minute scale with its restrained numerals and extended divisions would suggest a date towards the end of the 17th century. That the seconds ring does not occupy all the available matted dial centre is another earlier detail; the start of the 18th century is associated with enlarging seconds rings.

Of considerable interest are the engraved names on the dial plate, normally concealed under the chapter ring. It is not unknown for names to be concealed on the dial, sometimes under attached plaques, etc. and in this case may be a record of some kind of collaboration.

Hands: The style of the hands, the surface profiling and the extent of the piercing of the minute hand are all indicative of later 17th century practice.

Movement: Characteristic details typical of this period are shape of the pillars, collets and the scribe lines on wheels. That the pitch of the gears becomes finer up the train is usually a feature of earlier work; development and simplification in later manufacture meant that fewer gear cutter profiles were used in forming the teeth. Alternatively, the design of the month going train in the Speakman could account for this particular feature. The striking pin wheel arbor and collet are questionable owing to their profiles but it is possible that any alterations to them are old. The shape of the pallets, with their broad arms and distinct pads are more typical of 19th or 20th century work, and taken in combination with the vacant holes referred to above are evidence that the present pallets are a later replacement, now at a lower height than the originals.

Concealed names:
Thomas Wheeler was apprenticed to Nicholas Coxeter (Master 1671) in 1647, becoming free of the Clockmakers' Company in 1647 (C.E. Atkins, "Register of Apprentices of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers", 1931). Wheeler became a Steward in 1670, Renter Warden 1680, Upper Warden 1682 and Master of the Clockmakers' Company in 1684 ("Freemen of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers", 1984, Pub. G. Daniels). Died 1694 (G.H. Baillie, "Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World", 1982, N.A.G. Press, London).

John Andrews was apprenticed to Nathaniel Pyne in 1680 then turned over to Samuel Staunton (C.E. Atkins, "Register of Apprentices of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers", 1931). Pyne was apprenticed to Thomas Wheeler in 1667 (C.E. Atkins, "Register of Apprentices of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers", 1931). Andrews became free of the Clockmakers' Company in 1688 ("Freemen of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers", 1984, Pub. G. Daniels). Leadenhall Street (G.H. Baillie, "Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World", 1982, N.A.G. Press, London).

John Benson was apprenticed to Richard Masterson (subscriber for incorporation of the Clockmakers' Company) in 1652, becoming free in 1669 (C.E. Atkins, "Register of Apprentices of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers", 1931; G.H. Baillie, "Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World", 1982, N.A.G. Press, London; "Freemen of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers", 1984, Pub. G. Daniels). In the 1662 Clockmakers' Company survey, John Benson was recorded as a Graver, but no address given (H. Clarke (compiler), "...list of all the clockmakers...in the City of London", Dated 26 June 1662, Compiled ca. 1813, Guildhall manuscript Ms 3974).

Description and notes by Francis Brodie, c. 2008

Edward Speakman was apprenticed to his father William in 1682, and became free of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1691, working until 1711 in Newgate Street in the City of London. His father became Master of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1701.

The lenticle frame on this clock is unusually ornate, cast in brass and showing cornucopiae and a cherub’s head, while the lenticle itself is made from bottle glass. A “bull’s-eye” made of bottle glass is a feature found only on some early long case clocks. The spiral columns on either side of the clock face are also worthy of note, as they turn in opposite directions so as to complement each other. Spiral columns are also usually only found on clocks made before 1700.

The clock has an anchor escapement. The brass and steel weight driven two train movement has hour striking controlled by an external countwheel. Three names engraved on the dial plate ’John Andrew Thos Wheeler and John Benson’ may record some kind of earlier collaboration with the maker. Thomas Wheeler was Master of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1684 and died in 1694. John Andrews, free of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1688, worked in Leadenhall Street. In 1662 one John Benson was recorded as a ‘Graver’ in a survey conducted by the Clockmakers’ Company.

W.14:2-1956