by  PETER JAMES SIMON

EDWARD BARLOW Jr.

When James Barlow died, his eldest son  Edward was just nine years old,  and  he had  two  younger sisters which he
and his mother would have to look after.  Therefore it would be Edward that  the family would look to in order to earn money to keep food on the table.

It was conceivable that James’s son Edward followed in the trade as clockmaker after his fathers death, and this would probably have been encouraged by his cousin Benjamin or Benjamin’s brother, William.  A  young apprenticeship could have  been taken by Edward to either Benjamin or William.  I have  a clock signed  E Barlow Oldham, and it dates from about 1810 which would  put Edward at  31 years of age, when he would have been  fully established as  a clockmaker.

Edward  married  Betty Kershaw  June  29th 1800 at Oldham Parish Church, they had six children  and they were  all named after passed members of the family.

We can conclude by building up a picture of the three generations of the Barlow family, working as clockmakers in both Oldham  and near by Ashton,  over  a period of  approximately one hundred  years from 1730 to 1830.   The family tree showing the generations of clockmakers working in Oldham would be :

Edward b.1699 d.1776                                 John b.1698 d.1782
                 I                                                                  I
                 I                                                                  I
                 I                                                                  I
                 I                                                                  I
                 I                                                                  I
                 I                                                    James b. 1754 d. 1788
                 I                                                                  I
Benjamin b. 1736 + William b. 1748              Edward b. 1779

JAMES BARLOW Jr.

My journey in quest of  a Benjamin Barlow Ashton  clock led me to yet another clock by Barlow of  Oldham which I was told was for  sale.  This clock was a much later painted dial and signed J  Barlow Oldham.   This  immediately  became a
very interesting clock and a part of the Barlow jig-saw that I had not found.   I have  always  thought  that Edward Bar- low Jnr born 1779 son of James Barlow, was the last of the Barlow’s  in the clock making trade.   Mr. S. Andrew makes
a reference in  his paper  that Barlow clockmakers were working  from 1726 to 1882.   This J Barlow could  either  be a
John or  a  James, and  left me to find out  where  he fits into  the family  tree.   The  most likely option is for this  to be
James Barlow, son of Edward Jr. and named after Edward’s father James who died when he was only 34.

I managed to buy this clock although this type of clock would not be particularly attractive  to most people  because it is late in  the century and the proportions became ungainly, however it forms an important place in the  family of  Barlow clockmakers, as it is the last member of the family to be  involved in the clock trade.   The  business would have finished probably by 1880, and Mr. S. Andrew in his paper is quoting a date of 1882.  This date would have been a general trend throughout the country, with this type of clock going out of  vogue and being  replaced by imports, mainly from America

When  I traced the  maker of this clock my previous assumption  was totally correct and the following  information  has been taken from parish records.

Edward Barlow Jr., son of James Barlow, who  once having finished his  apprenticeship would have been the youngest remaining Barlow to head up  the family business.   Edward married Betty Kershaw June 29th 1800 at Oldham.   They had six children,  with James born Nov. 1st 1800, however he must have died  because  they christened  another child James Dec. 1st 1805.   This first son was  named  after Edward’s father.   They had another son named John, born Jan
24th 1808, their  other children  were, Elizabeth 1810, William 1812 and Henry 1817.   As  we can  conclude  the clock signed J Barlow could have been made by either James or John, but I would like to think that Edward pushed his first son James forward into the clockmaking trade as a mark of respect for his own father James who died so young.

I would  imagine that the family business started to decline after the death of Benjamin Barlow.   The amount of  clocks still  in existence  today made by Edward, Benjamin, John and William could  show  that  a  reasonable  family  business would have survived.   However, we do find Benjamin as the keeper of the Nagg’s  Head, and Edward and  John taking on other work and positions within the community, all to boost their finances.    Certainly from the very  few clocks that are known to exist by Edward Jr and his  son James, they would have had  to have had other jobs as a source of income. In  these later years  the clocks  would have been  made in their spare  time, with  the knowledge passed down to them from their ancestors, or in the case of the much later clocks, simply assembled from bought in parts.
 

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