The standard reference book on clockmakers in East Anglia is Norfolk and Norwich Clocks and Clockmakers by C and Y Bird, published by Phillimore (1996) and in this book there is a list of 13 Clockmakers who were based in Holt during the years 1724 – 1900. Only two of the clockmakers are listed as working during the 18^th Century – a Francis Dusgate (1724-1801) and a Joseph Mack (1771-1805).

Francis Dusgate is listed (in the documents at the Public Record Office) as having been apprenticed to the clockmaker David Lockwood of Swaffham for "7 years from 10 May 1741 for the fee of £20" and in the Norwich Mercury of the 25 October 1760 it is recorded that "a very convenient dwelling house situate in Holt near the Market place (is) now in the occupation of Mr Dusgate, Watchmaker, at a yearly rent of £4. 0s 0d". The Clockmakers’ Company had been well established before Mr Dusgate’s time and was a powerful and autocratic guild. Clocks were for hundreds of years either weight driven or spring driven, and as well as improvements in basic timekeeping, the style and appearance of clocks was subject to the fashion of the times. Moving from the early brass lantern clocks, by the middle of the 18^th Century more attractive table clocks were being made with cases of wood. How much a Holt clockmaker might be aware of "fashions" in clock making, led largely by the Clockmaker’s Company and leading clockmakers in London, can only be a matter of speculation.

Figure 1 is the dial of a surviving table or bracket clock of Francis Dusgate dated about 1770-1775 – precise dating is not often possible. The dial is made of brass with a ‘matted’ centre with a date change in a small square and a separate chapter ring on which the clock numbers were engraved. This chapter ring is silvered. In the arch above the main dial is a further pointer and another ring with a "strike/silent" lever. The case is made of fruitwood – commonly used in the ‘country’, which was originally ‘ebonised’ to a black shiny finish which would show off the brass dials. The case has a ‘bell – shaped’ top and a carrying handle. Two brackets secure the mainly brass movement to the case, and the back plate has decorative engraving of a vase and swags (Figure 2). The anchor escapement was introduced at the end of the 17^th Century, but this clock has the earlier type of verge escapement. This escapement is controlled by a short (or ‘bob’) pendulum, the bob of which can be screwed up or down the rod of the pendulum to make the clock go faster or slower. This type of clock was truly portable with its carrying handle and a hook in the backplate to park the pendulum during transit. It is possible to conceive that the clock might stand in front of a mirror in a Georgian drawing room during the day so that the front face and the engraved backplate could both be admired, and then the clock taken upstairs at night – the lever having been moved to the ‘silent’ position. This particular clock is provided with a ‘repeater’ which was a length of cord which came outside the case which when pulled caused the clock to chime the last hour. Thus the person in bed during the hours of darkness did not need to light a candle in order to know the time to the last hour. Francis Dusgate’s signature appears in the centre of the dial (Figure 3) but it is a matter of speculation actually how much of the movement he would actually have made himself. Modern clockmakers still make entire clock movements as he might have done. He would certainly have contracted out the making of the clock cases to some local cabinetmaker.

Here are pictures of another Francis Dusgate Clock :

Francis Dusgate died a widower at the age of 77 and was buried on 24 April 1801. The author does not know if his resting place is in Holt. There is a Francis Dusgate grave slab in the floor of Anmer Church.

English Domestic Clocks Cescinsky and Webster (1969) Spring Books, London

Brass Dial Clocks Brian Loomes (1998) Antique Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge.

Francis Dusgate (1724-1801) and Joseph Mack (1771-1805) are the only two listed 18^th Century Clockmakers in Holt. Joseph Mack seems to have had a somewhat shorter working life. While Dusgate had a commercial presence in Swaffam as well as Holt, Joseph Mack seems to have had a similar situation but in Foulsham. He is credited with making a 30 hour clock with a 6ft square dial for Foulsham Church in 1771 for which he was paid the sum of £32 on 8 June 1772. It is recorded that he took an apprentice, one "Isaac Loose", for 6 years from the 1^st January 1776 at a fee of £20 12s 0d. C and Y Bird in their Norfolk and Norwich Clockmakers list one clock of his – a 30 hour longcase clock with a one-piece brass dial signed "Joseph Mack, Foulsham", and perhaps his main workshop was in Foulsham and not Holt.

Figure 1 shows a large and handsome 7 day longcase clock made by Joseph Mack about 1785-1795. By this date the preferred wood for clock cases was mahogany which had been used for furniture from about 1720, but by the late 18^th Century this case is of mahogany veneered with ‘Cuban’ mahogany to enhance the decorative effect and inlaid with satinwood and boxwood stringing. Quarter-round columns had been a feature of clock cases for some years, and in this case the Corinthian column tops and bases have been cast out of brass. On the very top of the case are inlaid wood blocks with cast brass "balls and spires". The clock is 8ft tall which was not unusual for an 18^th Century long case clock, but it seems unlikely that Joseph Mack made this clock "on spec". Surely this must have been made on commission for a owner who had the home to display such a piece of furniture.

The dial was made in the latest style being of the ‘white dial’ or ‘painted dial’ type which first appeared about 1770. On this dial (Figure 2) there are gilded gesso corners of a symmetrical type centred on a medallion. In the arch over the dial further gold decoration and space for the signature of the maker "Mack Holt" (Figure 3). It has been said of this clock that the dial and movement fail to match the quality of the case, yet the expert to ventured this opinion looked closely at the movement and declared that the movement had been in that case since the day it was made. Perhaps Joseph Mack was presented with a case a client had brought back from London and was asked to make a movement with the latest fashionable painted dial to fit.

Joseph Mack retired in 1805 and was succeeded by M & G Massingham. An announcement appeared in the press on 24 August 1805 – "J Mack, Gold and Silversmith, Ironmonery etc of Holt, returns thanks, (and) begs leave to recommend M & G Massingham his successors". He seems to have been a versatile craftsman.

Painted dial clocks 1770-1870 Brian Loomes (1994) Antique Collectors’ Club.

Longcase Painted Dials – their history and restoration M F Tennant (1995) N.A.G. Press Ltd., London.