© 2020 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission. London Women in Horology By Bob Frishman, FNAWCC (MA) he 2020 NAWCC Ward Francillon Time by Samuel Elliott Atkins, a former Clerk of the Company, Symposium, “Horology 1776,” will take place in and privately printed in 1881. Top of the roster is Mariane T Philadelphia on October 1–3 at the Museum of Viet who was “bound” for seven years on January 27, the American Revolution. One important speaker on 1715, to her father Claude. the conference theme of timekeeping during our War English women’s names also are among the tiny-print of Independence will be Emily Akkermans, curator at 873 pages of Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the London’s Greenwich Observatory. She is one of the World by Brian Loomes, published in 2006, although women featured in this article, and she will be happy to most were widows and daughters of men in the trade. On meet and chat with all who attend. Symposium details and page 352 for example, Mrs. Agnes Harrison of Morpeth is registration can be found at www.horology1776.com . listed in 1884 as “Widow of Francis Harrison.” Miss Viet Horology in England has always been dominated by men. appears here, too, on page 798, with the additional detail Names like Fromanteel, Harrison, Tompion, Graham, that her father had a partner, Thomas Mitchell. Mudge, Ferguson, Vulliamy, and now George Daniels In Colonial America and then in the United States the are on every list of the most famous practitioners, situation was similar, although we know that from the theoreticians, and scholars of our applied science. earliest days of industrialization of clock and watch The founders of London’s Worshipful Company of production, the Massachusetts and Connecticut factories Clockmakers, who obtained from King Charles I their employed large numbers of women. The watch factory in 1631 charter inscribed on two large richly emblazoned Waltham hired high percentages of women workers (Figure skins of parchment, were all men. 1), and there were as many in the long multi-story buildings However, in 1715 the Company recognized and of Seth Thomas, Ingraham, Waterbury, Gilbert, and the rest. sanctioned female apprentices, and some of the first ones From my research into late 19th-century Boston business are listed on page 155 of Some Account of the Worshipful records, I also discovered women in the trade there. I Company of Clockmakers of the City of London compiled examined bound volumes of Married Women in Business Figure 1. In the early 1890s, William Webster produced many photographs of the Waltham Watch Factory. We see rows of skilled women at work in the jeweling room. nawcc.org NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin • May | June 2020 173 © 2020 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission. 1877 to 1891 that contained hundreds of signed certificates a Postgraduate Diploma in Conservation of Fine Metalwork required by city regulations. For example, Hannah Golden from West Dean College of Arts and Conservation. In May Rubin completed and signed a “Certificate of Married 2019, she was elected to the Council of the Antiquarian Woman Doing Business on Separate Account” confirming Horological Society, which is England’s foremost scholarly that she would be working in “jewelry and watchmaking.” horological association. Assistant City Clerk John T. Priest countersigned the form The Clockmakers Company’s approximately 1,250 on August 7, 1895, at “3 o’clock, and 30 min.” In August books, including many old and rare editions, remain in 1905, Emma M. Tebbetts certified that her husband the London Guildhall complex, on extended loan to the was Charles N. Tebbetts and that she separately would much-larger Guildhall Library that also hosts the 1,700 be “manufacturing and selling electric clocks and their books on loan by the Antiquarian Horological Society. accessories.” I met Anna there along with Principal Librarian Peter This article’s focus is on four London women working Ross, who kindly escorted us down into the closed stacks in horology today, both at the bench and in curatorial to view both collections on their long rolling shelves. positions. Men previously were in these positions, but The books do not circulate outside the building but can these four are not their wives, widows, or daughters, but be retrieved for researchers seated in the well-lit reading instead they trained, studied, and were hired solely on skill room. Library staff, and Anna, regularly field emailed and merit. I met with each woman while I was in London public inquiries about clocks and watches, but they limit for two annual horological lectures in November 2019. searches and replies to ones that can be handled quickly. People needing more than basic Anna Rolls details about a maker or timepiece Anna Rolls has been employed are encouraged to come use the since September 2018 by library’s resources themselves. the Worshipful Company of Anna sometimes spends more Clockmakers as its curator of the time on interesting queries if they Clockmakers’ Museum and Archive offer opportunities to enhance her (Figure 2). She succeeded Sir own knowledge. George White who was appointed At the Science Museum, where keeper of the Clockmakers’ Anna has a small basement Museum in 1987 and who oversaw office, she hopes to complete her its reordering in 2000 and again examination and organization in 2015 when the collection of of materials not on display or more than 1,000 watches, clocks, properly cataloged, and then chronometers, instruments, to develop new exhibits and ephemera, and artworks moved attractions on the museum from the London Guildhall to floor. The building is packed much larger space on the second regularly with large groups of floor of the Science Museum in schoolchildren, but more often South Kensington. Anna not only other exhibits seem to attract curates the museum collection but them and their teachers. That she also oversees the Company’s certainly is a troubling issue not library, still at the Guildhall, and confined to this public horological manuscripts that are secured at the collection. London Metropolitan Archives. Previously, Anna served nine years Jane Desborough as a conservator of metalwork and Also working at the Science scientific instruments at the Royal Museum, but with a broader Museums Greenwich. She worked curatorial mandate, is Dr. Jane with its horological department Figure 2. Anna Rolls usually is at the London Desborough (Figure 3). To and trained with the British Science Museum with the clock collection of quote from her job description: Horological Institute’s Distance the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, her “I’m Curator of Scientific Learning Course. She graduated employer. However, here she is outside the Instruments at the Science in 2008 from the University of Guildhall Library which holds the Company’s Museum in London. The objects Sussex with an MA degree in library. She visits regularly to deliver newly I’m responsible for range from Conservation Studies, and she has acquired books and to do research. Elizabethan weights to electron 174 May | June 2020 • NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin nawcc.org © 2020 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission. Figure 3. Jane Desborough stands by what may be the largest instrument under her care as curator of scientific instruments at the London Science Museum. This eight- Figure 4. Emily Akkermans, curator of time, points at John Arnnold’s 1778 foot mural arc was pocket chronometer ’36’ displayed at the Royal Observatory Greenwich built in 1770 for the where she works. Per the watch’s label, “it features the first successful private astronomical temperature compensator fitted to the balance” and “is the first navigational observatory of King watch to be described in print as a ‘chronometer.’” This is one of the many George III. horological treasures she oversees. microscopes and from demonstration apparatus made was a circa 1700 sundial-making tool, although obviously it for King George III to equipment used for school science was not one that Allen could have used. lessons in the 1980s. I’m particularly interested in stories Hardly resting on her laurels, Jane now is preparing a of use and how objects fit into the wider context of temporary exhibit at the museum on Greek science. Like knowledge sharing.” Anna Rolls, she also was elected in spring 2019 to serve My recent visits to the museum included a tour with Jane on the Council of the Antiquarian Horological Society. of the new exhibit Science City that she had a major hand I did not have an opportunity to ask if she is descended in creating during the past five years. It is permanent, from an earlier Jane Desborough (1606–56) who was the meaning that it is expected to remain in place for perhaps sister of Oliver Cromwell. 20 years. It fills the larger portion of the building’s second Ten miles down the Thames River is the Royal floor, complementing the adjacent horological displays. Observatory Greenwich. Here on the prime meridian, She co-authored the accompanying book, subtitled Craft, where visitors can worship John Harrison’s and Larcum Commerce and Curiosity in London 1550-1800. She wrote Kendall’s chronometers, is where I spent a day with the three of the book’s chapters including Chapter 1, “A New two other women I am featuring. Trade in London 1550-1650,” which showcases sundials and a circa 1600 drum table clock by Nicholas Vallin. She especially wanted me to view a clever life-size diorama Emily Akkermans of the 17th-century workshop of instrument maker Elias Emily Akkermans followed Rory McEvoy, and before him Allen (d.