John Holmes 1728-1797
Holmes’ exact birth date is not known, but his baptism is recorded in York on 30th
November 1727. His father, William Holmes was an ironmonger, he died in 1737 and his
mother died in 1741. They were friends of the Smeaton family whose son John (b. 1724)
became a celebrated engineer, scientific instrument maker, Friend of the Royal Society
and close friend of John Holmes. When John Holmes’s mother died he went to stay with
the Smeaton family then spent his apprenticeship with the celebrated York clockmaker
Henry Hindley.
In 1749 his apprenticeship ended and he moved to London, initially staying with John
Smeaton (then making scientific instruments) and by 1751 he moved to Hand Court,
opposite Great Turnstile where he remained for the next 3 years. In common with most
young clockmakers Holmes would have started out doing out-work for more established
clockmakers. In about 1755 he married and moved to Catherine Street, off the Strand
where a number of other clock, watch and scientific instrument makers had workshops
just west of Somerset House.
In 1760, until his death in 1797 he moved into large double-fronted premises on the
Strand just four doors east of Somerset House. In common with most clockmakers this
became both domestic house and business premises combined. In 1767 his wife Phoebe
died leaving two young children, but John soon married again to “Miss Broadbent,
daughter of Mr. Broadbent of Garforth, Barwick-In-Elmet, Leeds, a most agreeable young
lady, with a handsome fortune” (extract from the Leeds Intelligencer in June 1769).
Together they had two girls and five boys; of whom we know William (b. 1762) and John
(b. 1776) joined the family business.
Holmes’s longcase clock cases were always of first-rate quality; from about 1765 his
cases adopted a particularly beautiful form, commonly termed the ‘Fleet Street Style’.
Other top level makes working in the Strand such as Thomas Mudge & Matthew Dutton
made very similar cases. They were typified by lovely slender proportions, well defined
mouldings, fine flame veneered mahogany trunk doors and a breakarch hood surmounted
by a concave moulded pedestal with a brass ball finial either with foliate or flambeau
terminal.
Holmes was particularly interested in improving his clocks’ accuracy and turned his
attention to minimising pendulum-related variation. He very often used a split roller
pendulum suspension carried on a double bracket backcock; whilst this arrangement
was also used by other fine clockmakers, it was certainly a Holmes characteristic.
For his highest quality clocks from about 1780 Holmes employed a ‘Ludlum-type’
woodrod pendulum which had an ebony or deal rod, heavy lead bob and subsidiary ball
adjustment. This type of pendulum, typified by the present clock, normally has an offset
pivoted crutch – a Holmes device designed to minimise friction.
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