s Longcase Clock by Thomas Henderson, Hull, mid-1700s - Hull Museums Collections

Longcase Clock by Thomas Henderson, Hull, mid-1700s

This clock is made from four different types of wood: oak, walnut, ebony and sycamore. Thomas Henderson made this clock. He was born in Scarborough in 1712. His father Robert was also a clockmaker. Thomas moved to Hull to set up his own clock making business in Silver Street. We don’t know when the business was established. It closed down in 1767 when clockmaker William Pridgin took over the workshop in Silver Street. Thomas returned to Scarborough. This clock case is made from oak. Most cases were made from oak because it was quite cheap. This clock would have been more expensive because the oak case is covered with a walnut veneer. This clock also has pieces of ebony and sycamore attached in a thin line near the case edge for decoration. Clocks and watches were made in Hull from the early 1700s. Hull had no clockmakers’ guild to regulate and record the trade, so it’s difficult to find out about local clock making. Information comes from surviving examples, newspapers and trade directories. Trade directories were a kind of old fashioned Yellow Pages. The parts needed to make a clock are the dial, movements (the mechanism that tells the time) and case. Some local craftsmen had the skills to make all of these parts. Other ‘clockmakers’ bought ready made parts and marked their name on the clock. Many of the cases for such clocks were probably still made in East Yorkshire, which had a number of skilled joiners. Local demand for clocks supported several makers. In the 1700s there were around six clockmakers in Hull at any one time. Local clockmakers were influenced by London styles. Many Hull makers made copies of high quality London clocks, or they made cheaper cases, depending on their customer’s budget. Purchased by Hull Museums with assistance from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund.