The Automata & Musical Nelson Memorial Longcase Clock
Some two hundred and fifty years ago one of England's greatest historical figures was born. A man whose life was anything but boring, who encompassed all that is loved in our heroes, a man who died doing his duty for King and Country, Lord Horatio Nelson.
It was after his famous battle at Trafalgar when Nelson stood shoulder to shoulder with his men aboard the flagship HMS Victory, despite having lost both an arm and an eye previously, that his status was finally achieved. His message spelt out to the others via the flag signal hoisted on his ship, 'England Expects Every Man to do His Duty' summed up his single minded beliefs. As the battle raged around a bullet hit him in the chest and as he lay dying he thought not of himself but of the men around him and the fight still to be won. This moment has, of course, has gone down in folklore as he turned to Sir Thomas Hardy and whispered 'kiss me Hardy' before slumping to his death.
After the battle with the French was won many Nelson memorial items where produced, the majority of poor quality and dispensable, rather as events of the modern day churn out such inferior memorabilia. But there were a few of quite exceptional quality, often made on demand for a patriotic land owner or man of means. One such piece is a fine musical and automata longcase clock unearthed recently and described here.
This rare and fine clock has an eight day movement which unusually strikes the hours on three bells simultaneously as opposed to the normal one bell, and furthermore every four hours plays one of six tunes on twelve bells with the musical barrel set lengthways along the movement. The tunes are changed via a door to the hood side with a wheel engraved with the six melodies: 'Changes/ March Sipies/ Speed ye Plough/ Brittania/ God Save the King/ Psalm 113'. As well as the normal Roman hour numerals, seconds dial and date aperture the beautifully painted twelve inch dial has an automata scene set within the arch depicting Nelson on board HMS Victory with his sword arm moving in time to the beat of the clock. The four corners are also superbly painted with various scenes from the Battle of Trafalgar with the centre signed by the clockmaker himself, 'Jones, Chalford'. Interestingly the rear of the dial is marked in the manner of the famous Birmingham dialmaker Wilson, with the lettering 'J...S' (for his customer Jones) and serial number '3704'. There are also signs of the original Wilson workshop label. The case is of well proportioned oak and mahogany which in itself is an added bonus as the majority of musical longcase clocks have larger dials to accommodate the third barrel whereas this one is set to the side of the movement allowing for a normal twelve inch dial which doesn.t make the clock appear top heavy. Unusually the inner hood frame is of satinwood and is painted onto the arch using gold on green with Nelson.s famous signal, 'England Expects Every Man to do His Duty'. The hood has fluted columns with cast brass Corinthian capitals and a swan neck pediment with 'oval' inlayed satinwood panels and return mouldings. The base has serpentine shaped feet, canted corners and oval inlaid decoration with the trunk having fluted quartered columns, a shaped moulding to the top of the trunk door, ebonised stringing and wonderful inlaid decoration to the centre depicting Britannia.
The clockmaker Daniel Jones of Chalford, Gloucestershire, is recorded as being born in 1777 and married on the 1st of June 1801 and therefore by the time of Trafalgar would.ve been an established and known maker. Daniel was the nephew of the clockmaker Henry Jones, born 1731, who also worked in Chalford with a clock signed by him dated 1769.
The dial maker James Wilson is recorded as working in Birmingham from 1777 until 1809 having previously been in partnership with Thomas Osborne from 1772. One of the finest, earliest and most important of the Birmingham dial makers. Wilson stayed at the premises in 11, Great Charles Street previously used by the partnership. He used various artists to decorate the individual dials and no two are alike, many still extant have markings and labels to the rear which would donate who the dial was for and who the actual painter was. It has been noted that 'Wilson dials with automata are comparatively rare because, outside of the 'special orders' they were the most expensive of all the dials. Few seem to have survived with all their moving pieces intact...'
Interestingly using all the known dates it is possible date this clock fairly accurately. As Jones was married in 1801, The Battle of Trafalgar was in October 1805 and Wilson stopped working in early 1809 it would be safe to assume that it was made in the three years between 1806 and 1808.
This fine and interesting clock can be seen at the Honiton showroom of clock specialist Leigh Extence with further details on his website www.extence.co.uk
