An interesting article on Oldham clockmakers has just come to my notice, of which I will transcribe and then comment upon. The article is from The Oldham Chronicle January 16th 1904, and is headed:
OLDHAM CLOCKMAKERS.
INTERESTING PAPER BY MR.
S. ANDREW
On Friday evening of
last week Mr. D. F. Howarth read a paper, which had
been prepared by Mr. Samuel Andrew of Oldham, at the monthly meeting
of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society at Manchester,
on the old clock- makers of Oldham and the surrounding districts.
Mr. Andrew has favoured us with the manuscript of his paper,
of which the following is a copy.
The name of Edward Barlow is often to be found on our old clock faces, and I am many times asked for some account of him, seeing that his clocks are the oldest locally made clocks known in this locality. Had this question been raised some years ago when local clockmaking survived in Oldham and the vicinity as a trade, no doubt more satisfactory details could have been given; as it is we must be content with such fragments of information as a careless public, no longer surviving, have left behind them.
In the early days
of English clockmaking, clocks paid 25% duty to the Inland Revenue.
This was reduced to 10% in 1842 and further reduced in
1853, since then it has been abolished altogether.
Edward Barlow was the son of Henry Barlow, of Ladyhouse within Butterworth
in the Parish of Rochdale. His progenitor is believed
to be the Mr. Barlow,
the inventor of
repeating clocks and watches. A repeating watch
was first constructed by him in 1676.
What year Edward Barlow came
to Oldham is not known, but his great grandson, George Barlow, formerly
of Greenhill, and at one time Mayor of Oldham, writing to
"Notes and Queries" vol.6, says "my great grandfather
Edward Barlow, was a clockmaker about 50 years, say from
1726 to 1776, and I believe him to have been grandson
of the inventor".
See Owens M.S.S. Some
few of Edward Barlow’s old clocks are still to be found in quiet country
places. Mr. John Owen in his M.S.S. says at Abney Hall Cheadle,
is a clock by Edward Barlow Oldham 1767 with ornamental case
and quarter moulding. Mr. Giles Shaw, our respected member,
has also an Edward Barlow clock. Mr. Thomas
Whittaker, late of Birch House, Lees has also one of these clocks with
a handsomely made case. Mr. Newton Broadbent, of
Hey, has also
in his possession a one weight
cased 24 hour clock, bearing Edward Barlow’s name on the dial.
Mr. George Barlow
in "notes and queries" for 1852 says, I have
a spring repeating table clock evidently of great age, which I believe
to have been coeval with the inventor. It has neither name nor date on
it, but as an Act of Parliament was passed in 1698
forbidding clocks to be made without makers name,
the fair assumption is that this clock is of a
date prior thereto. It has
the old vertical escapement, and strikes the hour in full without
any chimes, but when want- ed to repeat on pulling a string, say
at 25 minutes to eight o’clock, it will chime twice
for the two quarters, and then strike seven times for the hour.
This clock was prized by my father as a sort of heirloom, having
been the property of
his father and
grandfather. The Mr. George Barlow here named
was the second son of William Barlow,
Esq., of
Rhodes House, Oldham,
major of the old Oldham Volunteers. Mr. George
Barlow was Mayor of Oldham, 1858-1859.
The Barlow family of Oldham seems to have had four members at least who were known as clockmakers between 1726 and 1882. Besides the Edward Barlow already mentioned in the annals of Oldham, I find mention of James Barlow, clockmaker of Oldham, who was buried at Oldham June 22nd 1788. It is probably the same James Barlow living in 1744 and described by Mr. Ernest Axon as being a brother of Edward Barlow. In our local annals, mention is also made of Ben Barlow, clockmaker who died at Cowhill March 25th 1788, and formerly kept the ancient Nagg’s Head Inn, in Oldham. I also found a clock at the Swan Inn Lees, made by John Barlow Oldham. Oak case cut short and one weight. Besides these we have mention of Henry Barlow, but the only trace I can find of his is on the face of a sundial which formerly stood in the churchyard of Hey Chapel, without date.
The original family
of Barlow seems to have come from Rochdale, were
they were settled during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but
according to E. Butterworth, a branch of the family has
been settled in Oldham ever since the reign of Queen Anne. He says
in his history of Oldham "Pawletts, situate near the top of
Lord Street, was in 1759 the dwelling
of Mr. Edward Barlow,
whose ancestor living in 1702 possessed lands in Oldham. " He further says
"the descendants of this family were inhabitants of Oldham in 1847".
COMMENTS
I find the above paper very interesting although a little misleading and somewhat incorrect in parts. It is good to discover other proof that Edward’s father was called Henry and in turn Henry’s father was referred to as Mr. Barlow the inventor of repeating clocks and watches. The Mr. Barlow referred to here would in fact be Edward Barlow 1636- 1716. To quote G H Baillie :
Barlow - Edward. London. b.
1636. d. 1716. Very able horologist. Invented rack
striking work for clocks circa 1676.
Also repeating work
for watches in 1686 and a cylinder type escapement in 1695
which was patented in conjunction with William Houghton. This Edward Barlow
was baptised Edward Booth and for some reason took his
wife’s maiden name which was Barlow. Britten quotes
Edward Booth (Barlow) 1636-1716 as being from Manchester and working
in London.
So what we have here is a
Barlow daughter from Rochdale or Oldham, not forgetting that Rochdale
and Oldham were towns next to each other separated by fields of undefined
boundaries, marrying a young Mr. Edward Booth of Man-
chester who was a clockmaker. They had a family and one of
their children was christened Henry and at some time
Edward the clockmaker decided to move to
London to find fame and fortune in
a trade which was in the times recognised in London
but very little in the provinces, especially with his
new found invention. He also for reasons unknown decided to change
his name from Booth and take the name of his wife, Barlow. It is
very possible that Henry was taught the trade of clockmaking by his father
Edward from a very young age and did not move to London.
Henry
in turn had a son who he
named after his own father and who is Edward Barlow Oldham Clockmaker.
He would most probably have been taught the trade of clockmaking
along with his brother John by their father Henry. The
sundial referred to above in the churchyard of Hey Chapel would be attributed
to Henry Barlow father of Edward Barlow.
The paper states that James Barlow clockmaker was the brother of Edward, but this is quite impossible, considering Edward was born in 1699 and assuming his brother would have been born within ten years, say 1709, and we have proof that James Barlow clockmaker was fathering children in 1785. The simple explanation is that they have mixed the names and James should be John.
Another simple mix up is regarding information from the local Annals which mentions Ben Barlow clockmaker, who died at Cowhill, March 25th 1788, when we have proof that it was his wife Betty who died on this date and as yet we have not found the burial place of Benjamin.
It is also mentioned
that the Barlow family of Oldham had four members
at least who are known to have been clock- makers between 1725 and 1882,
those mentioned are Edward, John, James and Benjamin.
The first three had all
died by 1788 and Benjamin
was born in 1736, so had probably passed away by 1816.
Therefore I cannot understand
the date 1882 when
relating to these members of the Barlow family
but it is a quite specific date and perhaps there
is some information
regarding the family known by Mr. Andrew, but not included
in this paper. Although William Barlow is
not mentioned, he was born in 1748 and one
would assume that he would have passed away by 1828.
Neither is Edward clockmaker son of James mentioned,
he was born 1779 and again we would assume to have pass- ed away
by 1859, so it is possible that other members of the
family were known to the author including James born 1805 son
of Edward and he was the generation of Barlow clockmakers working to the
date mentioned of 1882.
It is interesting to note
that the Barlow family originates from Rochdale and moved
over to Oldham at a later date, I would suspect that
some of the Barlow’s remained in Rochdale because I have
traced a John Barlow clockmaker of Rochdale who died in 1769
and a Thomas Barlow clockmaker of Rochdale circa 1820.
I have never come across any longcase clocks made by the Rochdale
side of the Barlow family. Benjamin Barlow had a son
called Thomas who was
born in 1776 and may well
have moved over to Rochdale and be the clockmaker Thomas Barlow circa 1820.
There are no other recorded sons of Benjamin working as clockmakers and
I would have though that he would have wanted the tradition to be
continued.
I would imagine that it is
from these notes written by Mr S Andrew, that Mr Giles Shaw derives his
information for his account one year later on Oldham Clockmakers.
The proof of information provided by this paper now finally expands the Barlow clockmaking family to six generations.
The family tree showing six generations is the following :
Another mistake proven by
parish records is that Mr. George Barlow, the Mayor of Oldham
is not the son of a William Barlow as stated in the paper,
but is the son of Henry Barlow, an attorney in law, of
Rhodes House Oldham. George Barlow was born February 10th 1808,
his mother was Mary Barlow, formerly Dunkerley.
Henry Barlow the attorney
was born April 28th 1771,
his father was also Henry Barlow and the first son of Edward Barlow of
Oldham. This quite correctly makes George Barlow
the great grandson of Edward Barlow
clockmaker as is said in George Barlow’s
"Notes and Queries"
vol. 6. Henry, son of Edward was a hatter of Jackson Pit, Oldham.
Thomas
Oldham Barlow
Engraver
London, England
The
Graphic - April 05, 1873