INDUSTRIES 



Court. 4 He as well as his two assistants 

 Laurence Daunton of the French Church 

 and Peter Doute of the Dutch Church, are 

 returned as living in Westminster in 1568. 



One of the earliest Middlesex clockmakers 

 whose work has survived is Bartholomew 

 Newsam, who lived in the Strand near 

 Somerset House. In 1568 he obtained from 

 the Crown a lease of these premises for thirty 

 years, and lived to occupy them to within 

 five years of the expiration of the term. In 

 1572 he obtained the reversion of the office 

 of Clockmaker to the Queen, and in 1590 

 he succeeded to that office on the death 

 of Nicholas Urseau or Oursiau. Newsam 

 had, prior to 1582, been clock-keeper to the 

 queen, and on 4 June 1583 received under 

 privy seal 32*. 8d. for 'mending of clocks 

 during the past year.' He did not long enjoy 

 his double office, but died in 1593. His will, 

 executed in 1586, contains some interesting 

 bequests. He leaves to John Newsam, clock- 

 maker, of York, various tools, including his 

 ' best vice save one, a beckhorne to stand 

 upon borde, a great fore hammer, and two 

 hand hammers.' The rest of his tools he gave 

 to his son Edward, ' with condition he became 

 a clockmaker as I am,' if not, the said tools 

 were to be sold. His bequests to friends 

 included 'a sonne dyall of copper gylte,' 'one 

 cristall Jewell with a watch in it, garnished 

 with gould,' ' one watch clocke in a silken 

 purse,' ' a sonne dyall to stand uppon a post 

 in his garden,' and ' a chamber clocke of fyve 

 markes price.' The British Museum has a 

 striking clock by Newsam, which is a master- 

 piece of construction. The case is of brass, 

 gilt and engraved, about 2^ in. square and 

 6 in. high, with an ornamental dome and 

 perforated top. The clock has a verge escape- 

 ment ; its workmanship is unusually fine for 

 the period, and is remarkably free from sub- 

 sequent interference. An illustration of a fine 

 casket by Bartholomew Newsam is given in 

 Archaeologia, vol. 55. 



Holborn and its neighbourhood was for 

 over two centuries a favourite locality for 

 horological craftsmen. JefFery Bailey, who 

 was admitted to the freedom of the Clock- 

 makers' Company in 1648, and served as 

 master in 1674, was a maker of lantern clocks 

 ' at ye Turn Style in Holborn.' 



Edward East, watchmaker to Charles I, 

 was in business at first in Pall Mall, near the 

 Tennis Court. He afterwards removed to 

 Fleet Street, and later still to the Strand, as in 

 the London Gazette for 22-26 January, 1690, 



' W. Page, DtnlzaAont and Naturalizations 

 (Huguenot Soc.j, p. zliii. 



he is described as ' Mr. East at the Sun, out- 

 side Temple Bar.' His watches were held in 

 high repute, and were often used by Charles II 

 as stakes at games of tennis in the Mall. Sir 

 Thomas Herbert relates in his Memoir sf that 

 having failed to call the king at an early hour 

 His Majesty ordered him to be supplied with 

 a gold alarm-watch, ' which, as there may be 

 cause, shall awake you.' A watch was accord- 

 ingly procured by the Earl of Pembroke from 

 Mr. East his watchmaker in Fleet Street. 

 East was a member of the Clockmakers' Com- 

 pany, and one of the ten original assistants 

 named in its charter of incorporation. After 

 serving the office of warden, he was twice 

 elected master, in 1645 and again in 1652. 

 In 1647 ne a ^ so serve d the office of treasurer 

 of the company, an office of which he was the 

 unique occupant. In 1693, probably not long 

 before his death, he gave 100 to the company 

 for the benefit of the poor. A very large sil- 

 ver alarum clock-watch by East which Charles I 

 kept at his bedside, and gave to Mr., afterwards 

 Sir Thomas, Herbert on 30 January 1649, 

 when on his way to execution at Whitehall, is 

 still in private possession. It is a beautiful 

 piece of work, and has been frequently illus- 

 trated ; the dial and back are finely decorated 

 with pierced work. This may be the ' Watch 

 and a Larum of gould ' for which East received 

 ' fortie pounds ' from the Receiver-General on 

 23 June 1649,' the watch having been sup- 

 plied ' for the late King's use the xviith of 

 January last.' Another fine example of an 

 ' Eduardus East ' is in the British Museum ; 

 it is an octangular crystal-cased watch made 

 about the year 1640, and has a recumbent 

 female figure engraved on the dial. The 

 Ashmolean Museum at Oxford possesses a gold 

 watch by East in the form of a melon. Other 

 specimens of this maker known to exist are a 

 watch with tortoise-shell case, in the British 

 Museum, dating from about 1640; another in 

 the Victoria and Albert Museum ; two ex- 

 amples in the Guildhall Museum, one a watch 

 movement and the other a silver watch in 

 oval hunting case with crystal centre ; and 

 two clock-watches in finely-pierced silver cases, 

 in private possession. 



Jeremy East, a contemporary and probably 

 a relative of Edward East, was admitted to the 

 freedom of the Clockmakers' Company in 

 1641. Two specimens of his workmanship 

 are described by Britten. 7 One is a superb 

 and very early example of English work, a 

 watch in an hexagonal crystal case with gilt 



'(1813), 148. 



Britten, Old Clocks and Watchei, 167-8. 



7 Ibid, i iz, 402. 



159 



