Dingwall Beloe Lecture Series

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Eric Dingwall
Eric Dingwall psychical researcher.png
Eric Dingwall (middle) in 1923.
Occupation(s) Anthropologist, psychical researcher and librarian

The Dingwall Beloe Lecture Series is the result of bequests by Eric Dingwall, formerly an Assistant Keeper of Printed Books in the British Museum, and to the Clockmakers Company by Reginald Beloe TD, the noted horological collector and Master of the Company in 1977.

Contents

Reginald Beloe
Reginald Gowan Beloe.tif
Reginald Beloe, Master of the Clockmakers Company in 1977.
Occupation(s) Horologist and collector

History

The Museum and the Company agreed the formation of a fund to back the presentation of an annual lecture, intended to make new contributions to the history of horology, with a particular international focus. [1] The lectures, under the organization of the Clocks and Watches department of the British Museum, have become one of the most significant annual events in the international horological calendar. The inaugural lecture was in 1989.

The lectures

  1. 1989 Giuseppe Brusa, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan, 'Early mechanical horology in Italy' [2]
  2. 1990 Joachim Schardin, Staatlich Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon, Dresden, 'The history of the horological collections in Dresden'. [3]
  3. 1991 Anthony Turner, 'Berthoud in England, Harrison in France: the transmission of horological knowledge in 18th century Europe'. [4]
  4. 1992 Jan Jaap Haspels, Director/Curator, Museum Speelklok, Utrecht, 'The Early History of Musical Clocks'. [5]
  5. 1993 owing to the illness of K. J. Langer, Munich, who was to lecture on 'German Precision Horology After 1800', David Thompson of the British Museum gave a talk on 'The British Museum Horological Collections'. [6]
  6. 1994 Gerhard Dohrn-van Rossum, Chemnitz University of Technology, 'Public Clocks and Modern Hours - Time Measurement and Urban Life since the late Middle Ages'. [7]
  7. 1995 John Leopold, British Museum, 'The Third Seafaring Nation: The introduction of the marine chronometer in the Netherlands'. [8]
  8. 1996 Jaroslav Folta, National Technical Museum (Prague), 'Horology in Prague'. [9]
  9. 1997 Peter Friess, Deutsches Museum Bonn, 'An unknown talent of German clockmaking: Joseph Weidenheimer 1758– 1795'. [10]
  10. 1998 Günther Oestmann, University of Hamburg, 'The Strasbourg Cathedral Clock'. [11]
  11. 1999 James Dowling, London, 'Mechanical Timekeeping in the Electronic Age'. [12]
  12. 2000 William J. H. Andrewes, Concord, Massachusetts 'French Clocks in American Collections'. [13]
  13. 2001 Mikhail Gouriev, Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, 'Clocks and Watches in the Hermitage'. [14]
  14. 2002 Jonathan Betts, National Maritime Museum, 'John Hyacinth Magellan (1720– 1790), horological and scientific agent'. [15]
  15. 2003 Sir George White, Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, Jeremy Evans, The British Museum, 'Thomas Tompion 'at The Dial and Three Crowns' '. [16]
  16. 2004 David Penney, 'Evidence from the Transient: The Importance of Ephemera for a Proper Understanding of the Clock and Watch Making Trade'. [17]
  17. 2005 Professor Carlos R. Alba, Autonomous University of Madrid (collector) & Juan J. Ontalva (clockmaker), 'Spain's Magnificent Horological Collections: An English and French Heritage'. [18]
  18. 2006 Roger Smith, 'The Sing-SongTrade: Exporting Clocks to China in the Eighteenth Century'. [19]
  19. 2007 Hans Boeckh, Patek-Philippe Museum, Geneva, 'French Literary Themes on 17th-Century Watches'. [20]
  20. 2008 Paul Buck, British Museum, 'Courtenay Adrian Ilbert (1888–1956), Horological Collector'. [21]
  21. 2009 John Glanville, 'Made in England – House clock production in the 20th century'. [22]
  22. 2010 Eddy Fraiture and Paul van Rompay (Belgian Horological Society), 'Clock & Watch Making in Flanders 1300–1830'. [23]
  23. 2011 Michael Grange, Cheltenham, 'The Grange Collection at the British Museum. English Provincial Clockmaking 1695–1840. The Role of the Thirty-Hour Clock'. [24]
  24. 2012 Alice Arnold-Becker, 'Friedberg – a centre of watch and clock making in 17th and 18th century Bavaria'. [25]
  25. 2013 Eduard C. Saluz, Deutsches Uhrenmuseum, 'The German Clock Museum Furtwangen – 160 Years of collecting'. [26]
  26. 2014 Andrew King, 'Winner or loser. Did John Harrison win the Longitude Prize?' [27]
  27. 2015 James Nye, Chairman AHS, An Englishman, a Frenchman, and a Watchman—The Cross-Border Life of Robert Lenoir (1898–1979) [28] (available on YouTube)
  28. 2016 Sibylle Gluch, 'Timing the stars: astronomers, clockmakers and German precision horology around 1800' [29]
  29. 2017 Matthew Champion, 'The music of the clock, c.1300–c.1600' [30]
  30. 2018 Marisa Addomine, 'Heavenly advisors: the astrological purpose of public clocks in Italy' [31]
  31. 2019 Sebastian Whitestone, 'Revelation in revision. How alterations to a woodcut block change the history of Huygens' pendulum clock invention' [32]
  32. 2020 Owing to COVID-19 restrictions, the lecture was combined with the annual Harrison Lecture of the Clockmakers Company and held virtually as a Zoom webinar, entitled 'Time in a Space'. There were three speakers: Joanna Migdal, 'Proportion - An Artist Craftsman's Perspective'; John Martineau, 'The Beauty of Asymmetry'; and Lee Yuen-Rapati, 'The Importance of Spacing in Clock and Watch Dial Design'. (available on YouTube)
  33. 2022 Peter de Clercq, 'Travel journals and the history of horology'.
  34. 2023 Keith Scobie-Youngs, 'From Man to Machine - The history of the winding of the Great Clock of Westminster'.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horology</span> Art or science of measuring time

Horology is the study of the measurement of time. Clocks, watches, clockwork, sundials, hourglasses, clepsydras, timers, time recorders, marine chronometers, and atomic clocks are all examples of instruments used to measure time. In current usage, horology refers mainly to the study of mechanical time-keeping devices, while chronometry more broadly includes electronic devices that have largely supplanted mechanical clocks for the best accuracy and precision in time-keeping.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worshipful Company of Clockmakers</span> Livery company of the City of London

The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers was established under a royal charter granted by King Charles I in 1631. It ranks sixty-first among the livery companies of the City of London, and comes under the jurisdiction of the Privy Council. The company established a library and its museum in 1813, which is the oldest specific collection of clocks and watches worldwide. This is administered by the company's affiliated charity, the Clockmakers' Charity, and is presently housed on the second floor of London's Science Museum. The modern aims of the company and its museum are charitable and educational, in particular to promote and preserve clockmaking and watchmaking, which as of 2019 were added to the HCA Red List of Endangered Crafts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watchmaker</span> Artisan who makes and repairs watches

A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their parts, by hand. Modern watchmakers, when required to repair older watches, for which replacement parts may not be available, must have fabrication skills, and can typically manufacture replacements for many of the parts found in a watch. The term clockmaker refers to an equivalent occupation specializing in clocks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clockmaker</span> Artisan who makes and repairs clocks

A clockmaker is an artisan who makes and/or repairs clocks. Since almost all clocks are now factory-made, most modern clockmakers only repair clocks. Modern clockmakers may be employed by jewellers, antique shops, and places devoted strictly to repairing clocks and watches. Clockmakers must be able to read blueprints and instructions for numerous types of clocks and time pieces that vary from antique clocks to modern time pieces in order to fix and make clocks or watches. The trade requires fine motor coordination as clockmakers must frequently work on devices with small gears and fine machinery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Arnold (watchmaker)</span> 18th-century English watchmaker and inventor

John Arnold was an English watchmaker and inventor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clockmakers' Museum</span> The Museum of the Clockmakers Company

The Clockmakers’ Museum in London, England, is believed to be the oldest collection specifically of clocks and watches in the world. The collection belongs to and is administered by the Clockmakers’ Charity, affiliated to the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, founded in 1631 by Royal Charter. Since 2015 it has been housed in a gallery provided by the Science Museum in South Kensington, having formerly been located in the Guildhall complex in the City of London since 1874, where it first opened to the public. Admission is free.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Tompion</span> English clockmaker (1639–1713)

Thomas Tompion, FRS (1639–1713) was an English clockmaker, watchmaker and mechanician who is still regarded to this day as the "Father of English Clockmaking". Tompion's work includes some of the most historic and important clocks and watches in the world, and can command very high prices whenever outstanding examples appear at auction. A plaque commemorates the house he shared on Fleet Street in London with his equally famous pupil and successor George Graham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Frodsham</span>

Charles Frodsham was a distinguished English horologist, establishing the firm of Charles Frodsham & Co, which remains in existence as the longest continuously trading firm of chronometer manufacturers in the world. In January 2018, the firm launched a new chronometer wristwatch, after sixteen years in development. It is the first watch to use the George Daniels double-impulse escapement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Horological Institute</span> Representative body of the UK horological industry

The British Horological Institute (BHI) is the representative body of the horological industry in the United Kingdom. It was founded by a group of clockmakers in 1858, and has its current premises at Upton Hall in Nottinghamshire, which includes a museum of clock history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thwaites & Reed</span>

Thwaites & Reed has been in continuous manufacture since its foundation and claims to be the oldest clock manufacturing company in the world. Geoffrey Buggins MBE, the last of the original family clockmakers, saw drawings of Thwaites clocks dating back to 1610. These drawings and other early records prior to 1780 went missing but other records from that date are stored with the London Metropolitan Archives. Further records are stored by Thwaites & Reed up to present day.

The Antiquarian Horological Society, abbreviated to AHS, is the UK-based learned society for scholars and enthusiasts of horology. Its administrative office is at 4 Lovat Lane, a listed building close to the Monument, in the City of London. In early 2016, the Society appointed Dr Patricia Fara of Clare College, Cambridge as its new president, following the untimely death of its previous president Professor Lisa Jardine. The Chairman is Dr James Nye.

Edward Martin Burgess FSA FBHI, known as Martin Burgess, was an English horologist and master clockmaker.

Jonathan Betts MBE is Curator Emeritus at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, a horological scholar and author, and an expert on the first marine timekeepers created by John Harrison in the middle of the 18th century. He was formerly Senior Specialist in horology at Greenwich. Between 2016 and 2019 he served on the board of trustees of the Institute of Conservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Clock & Watch Museum</span> Horology museum in Connecticut, United States

The American Clock & Watch Museum (ACWM), located in Bristol, Connecticut, is one of a very few museums in the United States dedicated solely to horology, which is the history, science and art of timekeeping and timekeepers. Located in the heart of the historic center of American clockmaking, ACWM is the world's preeminent horological museum in the area of American clocks, primarily industrial-made clocks of the 19th and early 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy</span>

Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy was a clockmaker, active in 18th and 19th century Britain. He succeeded his father Benjamin Vulliamy as head of the firm and Clockmaker to the Crown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Knibb</span> English clockmaker

Joseph Knibb (1640–1711) was an English clockmaker of the Restoration era. According to author Herbert Cescinsky, a leading authority on English clocks, Knibb, "next to Tompion, must be regarded as the greatest horologist of his time."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyril Beeson</span> British entomologist

Cyril Frederick Cherrington Beeson CIE, D.Sc. (1889–1975) was an English entomologist and forest conservator who worked in India. Beeson was an expert on forest entomology who wrote numerous papers on insects, and whose book on Indian forest insects remains a standard work on the subject. After his retirement and return to England he became an antiquarian horologist.

John Knibb (1650–1722) was an English clockmaker born in Claydon, Oxfordshire. He produced various clocks and watches including bracket clocks, lantern clocks, longcase clocks, and some wall-clocks, as well as building and maintaining several turret clocks. Even though his main market was catering to customers of modest means, he also dominated the higher-quality sector. Only six of Knibb's watches are known to survive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Dingwall</span>

Eric John Dingwall (1890–1986) was a British anthropologist, psychical researcher and librarian.

Charles Gretton was an English clock and watchmaker during the golden age of English clockmaking.

References

  1. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 18, p. 246
  2. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 18, p. 246; vol. 18, pp. 485–513.
  3. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 19, p. 24; vol. 19, pp.493– 510.
  4. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 19, p. 468, vol. 20, pp. 219– 239.
  5. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 20, p. 284; vol. 22, pp. 23–34.
  6. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 21, p. 14
  7. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 21, p. 392.
  8. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 22, p. 208; vol. 22, pp. 486–500.
  9. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 23, p. 87; vol. 23, pp. 405–417.
  10. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 23, p.478; vol. 24, pp. 523–38.
  11. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 24, p. 278; vol. 25, pp. 50–63.
  12. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 25, p.121.
  13. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 25, p. 593; vol. 26, pp. 628–653.
  14. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 26, p. 330.
  15. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 27, p.25; vol. 27, pp.509–17, vol. 28, pp.173–83 and vol. 30, pp. 25–44.
  16. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 27, p. 586; vol. 28, pp. 316–36 and pp. 437–52. [Note: Sir George White delivered the lecture on behalf of Jeremy Evans]
  17. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 28, p.304; vol. 29, pp. 790– 803, vol. 30, pp. 45–65 and pp. 177–195.
  18. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 29, p. 130.
  19. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 29, p. 600; vol. 30, pp. 629–658.
  20. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 30, p. 292; vol. 31, pp. 331–72 and pp. 477–98.
  21. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 31, p. 285; vol. 32, pp. 499–516 (Part 1); vol. 38, pp. 202–220 (Part 2). [note: the lecture was delivered in early 2009].
  22. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 31, p. 729; vol. 32, pp.231–49 and pp. 343–360.
  23. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 32, p. 320; vol. 33, pp. 27–45.
  24. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 33, p. 13; vol. 36, pp. 361–377 and pp. 481–501.
  25. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 33, p. 575; vol. 35, pp. 663–82 and pp. 783–795.
  26. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 34, p. 314; vol. 35, pp. 769–782.
  27. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 36, p. 316; vol. 37, pp. 73–81.
  28. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 36, p. 316; vol. 37, pp. 496–510.
  29. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 37, p. 314; vol. 39, pp. 34–54.
  30. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 38, p. 316.
  31. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 39, p. 300.
  32. ↑ Antiquarian Horology, vol. 40, p. 300.

If there are references to two locations in Antiquarian Horology, the first gives the location of the announcement of the lecture, the second the location of the published text.

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