A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



procure the patent till 1783. Meanwhile 

 John Arnold had registered a patent specifica- 

 tion claiming the device as his own invention ; 

 this embittered Earnshaw's feelings towards 

 Brockbank,whom he accused of having divulged 

 his plan to Arnold. In 1 795 Earnshaw set up 

 in business for himself at 119, High Holborn, 

 one door east of what is now Southampton 

 Row. In 1801 he was awarded ,500 by 

 the Board of Longitude on account of his 

 inventions, and in 1803 a further sum of 

 2,500. This did not, however, satisfy him, 

 and in 1808 he issued 'An appeal to the 

 Public,' in which he urged his claim to higher 

 consideration. He died at Chenies Street in 

 1829, but the business was carried on by his 

 son Thomas in Holborn, and afterwards at 

 87, Fenchurch Street. There is a portrait 

 of Earnshaw engraved by Bullin from a paint- 

 ing by Sir Martin Archer Shee, R.A. 



Benjamin Gray, who was in business in 

 Pall Mall, was the founder of a celebrated 

 firm of watchmakers. He was clockmaker 

 to George II, and several specimens of his 

 work between 1730 and 1758 are in the 

 Guildhall Museum. Gray was joined in 

 partnership by Justin Vulliamy, who settled 

 in London about 1730. Vulliamy was of 

 Swiss origin, and the first of a line of well- 

 known makers of that name ; he married the 

 daughter of Benjamin Gray, and succeeded 

 him in his business in Pall Mall. The watches 

 made by this firm were of very fine quality : 

 one of them fetched 120 15*. when the 

 Hawkins Collection was dispersed by auction 

 in 1895. This beautiful example had an 

 outer case of gold and crystal and a diamond 

 thumb-piece to press back the locking spring, 

 the inner case being enamelled in colours with 

 a garden scene. Justin Vulliamy was suc- 

 ceeded by his son Benjamin, who was in 

 favour with George III, and much consulted 

 by the king on mechanical subjects, especially 

 in connexion with Kew Observatory. Benja- 

 min Lewis Vulliamy, the next head of the 

 firm, was born in 1780, and obtained a high 

 reputation for the exactness and excellent finish 

 of his work, both in clocks and watches. 

 Until his death in 1854, the office of clock- 

 maker to the reigning sovereign continued to 

 be held by members of the Vulliamy family. 

 The royal palaces contain many fine clocks 

 made by the Vulliamys. At Windsor Castle, 

 on the mantelpiece of the royal dining-room, 

 is a clock by Justin Vulliamy, and in the 

 presence chamber is another clock by the 

 firm inclosed in a marble case which forms 

 part of a mantelpiece designed by J. Bacon, 

 R.A. Among the public timekeepers 

 made by B. L. Vulliamy were the large 



clock at the old Post Office, St. Martin's-le- 

 Grand, and one at Christ Church, Oxford. 

 Vulliamy was the author of several pam- 

 phlets on the art of clock-making ; one of 

 them being on the construction of the dead- 

 beat escapement. He was a very active 

 member of the Company of Clockmakers, of 

 which he was five times master ; in recogni- 

 tion of his services to them, the company 

 presented him with a piece of plate in 1 849. 



There is a fine long-clock by Richard Vick, 

 in a handsome Chippendale case, at Windsor 

 Castle. Vick, who carried on business in the 

 Strand, was master of the Clockmakers' Com- 

 pany in 1729, and is the maker of a repeating 

 watch inscribed 'Richard Vick, watchmaker 

 to his late Majesty.' Among the celebrated 

 Clerkenwell makers the firm of Thwaites 

 occupies an honourable place. Ainsworth 

 Thwaites, who was in business in Rosoman 

 Street between 1740 and 1780, made the 

 Horse Guards clock in 1756, and a handsome 

 long-clock about 1770 for the East India 

 Company which is now in the India Office. 

 He was succeeded as head of the firm by 

 John Thwaites, who was master of the Clock- 

 makers' Company in 1815, 1819, and 1820, 

 and presented the company with a notable 

 timekeeper by Henry Sully. He remained at 

 the head of the firm from 1780 to 1816, 

 when the firm became Thwaites & Reed, 

 and so remained until 1842. 



Stephen Rimbault was a maker of high 

 reputation between the years 1760 and 1781, 

 and carried on business in Great St. Andrew's 

 Street, St. Giles's. He particularly excelled 

 in clocks with mechanical figures dancing or 

 working on the dials, and other complicated 

 time-pieces ; a musical clock made by Rim- 

 bault in 1780, which plays six tunes on 

 eleven bells, is illustrated by Britten. John 

 Zoffany, R.A., in his early days was Rim- 

 bault's decorative assistant, and his services no 

 doubt helped largely to establish this maker's 

 reputation. 



Thomas Grignion, the first of a celebrated 

 family of clockmakers, is stated in the in- 

 scription of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, already 

 quoted, to have brought to perfection in 1740 

 ' the horizontal principle in watches and the 

 dead beat in clocks,' and to have made ' the 

 time-piece in the pediment at the end of this 

 parish church, destroyed by fire A.D. 1795.' 

 A new turret clock with bells was made for 

 the church in 1797 by Thomas Grignion the 

 younger. The firm started at the ' King's 

 Arms and Dial' in Great Russell Street, 

 Covent Garden, with Daniel and Thomas 

 Grignion as partners, who described them- 

 selves as finishers to the late Daniel Quare. 



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