derby celebrates whitehurst anniversary
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7/28/2019 Derby Celebrates Whitehurst Anniversary
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Derby Tourism, Assembly Rooms, Market Place, Derby DE1 3AHt: 01332 643414 e: [email protected]
facebook: Facebook.com/VisitDerbytwitter: Twitter.com/VisitDerby
www.visitderby.co.uk
Take time to visit Derby, as the city celebrates 300th anniversary
Time is of the essence for Derby in 2013.
It’s 300 years since the birth of one of Britain’s greatest innovators, and the city will be workingagainst the clock to introduce the rest of the UK, and the world, to clockmaker, engineer andgeologist - John Whitehurst. And with a suitable degree of perfect timing, it is also the 200th anniversary of John Smith, a former employee of Whitehurst’s company, whose business is stillbased in Derby to this day.
The most incredible fact of all, however, is that most of us will have already been staring them inthe face (so to speak), without ever knowing it.
John Whitehurst was born in Congleton, Cheshire, in 1713. The son of a watch and clockmaker,he moved to Derby and set up in business at 22 Irongate in around 1736. Here, he made clocks,
thermometers, barometers, and other philosophical instruments, and also pursued an interest inboth engineering and geology.
Derby has long been a hot spot of genius and invention, and at the same time that Whitehurst wasmaking his name in clockmaking, Strutt was busy with his new stocking frame, and Duesbury washelping to establish an English ceramics industry. Artist Joseph Wright (“Wright of Derby”) wasanother of the famous names of that time, and there is a theory (possibly based on the fact that itwas Whitehurst who introduced Wright to The Lunar Society) that John Whitehurst was the modelfor his most famous painting of all - “A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery”.
One of the founder members of The Lunar Society, Whitehurst rubbed shoulders with (amongstothers) the likes of Matthew Boulton, Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgwood and James Watt. And
one of his finest horological achievements of the time was the invention of the watchman’s clock or noctuary.
In 1779, Whitehurst was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. And after his death, the businesspassed to his nephew John Whitehurst II; and then to his son John Whitehurst III; and finally toJohn Smith who had started in the company as an apprentice.
Having been in the business of creating time for over 300 years, Smith of Derby Ltd today createscontemporary, iconic timepieces, tower and public clocks. Not surprisingly, they also carrypremium value - with the most expensive having been sold to a Chinese collector for £100,000 in2010. Made in England, “a Whitehurst movement by Smith of Derby Ltd” is today recognised asthe best the world has to offer.
Clockmakers to royalty and some of the world’s greatest families, clients over the years haveincluded King George III (“The King’s Clock), Benjamin Franklin (gifted a clock by John Whitehurston signing the Declaration of Independence for the United States of America), Catherine the GreatEmpress of Russia, and some of the finest households in Britain (including two Dukes, oneMarquess, five Earls, one Viscount, four Barons and four Baronets).
And - largely without even knowing it - most of us will be familiar with some of the 4,000 clockscreated and now cared-for around the world by Smith of Derby. This has been helped by the factthat in the 20th century Smith of Derby acquired some of the other best-known clock-makers inBritain - including the oldest clockmakers in the world, J.B.Joyce & Company of Whitchurch,responsible for some of the most iconic clocks in the world.
7/28/2019 Derby Celebrates Whitehurst Anniversary
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Derby Tourism, Assembly Rooms, Market Place, Derby DE1 3AHt: 01332 643414 e: [email protected]
facebook: Facebook.com/VisitDerbytwitter: Twitter.com/VisitDerby
www.visitderby.co.uk
Visit Derby has planned a number of ways to mark the 300th, and 200th, anniversaries in 2013 -most notably via a new “Time Trail” around the city.
And as well as having unveiled a Blue Plaque in his honour on April 10
th
(the date of his birth),several of the major events within the city will be themed around the 300th anniversary during 2013,including the 36th annual Summer Beer Festival from July 10 th to 14th, the West Indian Carnival over the weekend of July 20th to 21st, and the Darley Park Concert on Sunday September 1st.
An Enlightenment Exhibition, with a central theme of Whitehurst and family events based on “Time”theme, will run at Derby museums from June to September.
For full details visit http://www.visitderby.co.uk/whats-on-in-derby/time-2013-season.
For all other tourist information from Derby, visit www.visitderby.co.uk
[Ends] For further information, please contact:Michelle Booth [email protected] Telephone: 01332-643414Maggie Tillson [email protected] Telephone: 01332-643414
EDITOR’S NOTES
Places where you might have seen a Whitehurst clock or Kinetic Architectural Project in Britain:Cathedral Quarter Hotel Clock, DerbyLight Clock at Royal Derby Hospital, DerbyCathedral Clock at St Paul’s Cathedral, LondonGrand Brasserie Clock at St Pancras Station, London
Hourglass Clock at Burghley House, LeicestershirePlanisphere at Bluewater Shopping Centre, KentRevolving Globe above The LondonColliseum, LondonEleanor Cross in Stamford, LincolnshireZoetrope in Billinghay, Lincolnshire
Guinness World RecordsThe largest pendulum regulated clock in The Harmony Tower in Ganzhou, ChinaThe world’s largest steam clock, North Quay St Hellier, JerseyThe world’s largest solar powered clock, University of BaghdadThe world’s largest included clock, Time Square in Al-Ain, UAEThe world’s highest building mounted clock, Boeing HQ, Chicago
The world’s most remote public clock is owned by the Queen of Tonga