Thomas Mudge & William Dutton, London

Clockmaker: Thomas Mudge, London

Important George III mahogany regulator of small proportions. Circa 1775

Case

Highly figured flame mahogany with moulded bolection door frame to the hood with stop fluted, reeded and canted corners. Long trunk door, raised panel to the rectangular base on a single plinth with ogee feet.

Dial

10 inch square one piece silvered dial with regulator layout and an aperture for the hours signed Thomas Mudge & William Dutton, London. Fine blued steel hands.

Movement

Tall rectangular shouldered plates to the eight day movement with six baluster pillars. Dead-beat escapement, stopwork and bolt and shutter maintaining power. Flat iron rod pendulum with large pendulum bob and calibrated rating nut.

Height. 5ft 11 inches (180 cm)

Provenance. Exhibited in the Meyrick Neilson, 200 years of English Clockmaking Exhibition 1978. The catalogue states it was thought that the clock may once have been in Greenwich Observatory as No.5 Regulator which was made by Mudge & Dutton, but its present location is not known. The regulator was also owned by Percy Webster in 1932.

Thomas Mudge and William Dutton both served their apprenticeships under the famous George Graham, partner to Thomas Tompion. In circa 1765 Mudge and Dutton became partners at 148 Fleet Street, London. Thomas Mudge developed the Lever Escapement for use in watches and is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential watch and clock makers of the period. In 1770, William Dutton carried on the business in London when Thomas Mudge moved to Plymouth for health reasons and to concentrate on his chronometer project. William Dutton and Thomas Mudge both died in 1794.

Literature. Tobias Birch. Thomas Mudge & William Dutton A Perfect partnership, 2019.