Dunhill's factory clock, Thomas Taylor, 1820 - 1850

Dunhill's factory clock, Thomas Taylor, around 1820 - 1850

Collected in 2020

$A large wooden circular clock with large clock face and 'Taylor, Pontefract' on it$

This is an unusually large clock. Clocks like this were not made for private homes. They were designed for a public or business place, like a train station or a factory.

Because there are repair notes written inside this clock, we know who made it and who it was made for.

It was made by Taylor’s watchmaker in Market Place in Pontefract in about 1820 - 1850. Thomas Taylor started the business. When he died in 1844, his wife Maria took over. They made the clock for the Dunhill family in Broad Street.

The Dunhills were liquorice growers and sweet makers. George Dunhill may have invented Pontefract Cakes. Francis Dunhill ran the company in the 1830s and early 1840s until he died in 1845. His wife Ann then took over.

A clock this size was probably used in the Dunhill workshop. It was big enough to be seen by everyone working there.

It marks the change in production that came with the Industrial Revolution.

Traditionally people worked at home. They could choose when they worked and were paid by how much they made.

In the new industrial age, they had to come into work and work for fixed hours. This meant they needed to know the time far more accurately than in the past when a rough guess based on the church bell would have been fine.