Lot 2*
A most interesting mid 19th century French gorge cased carriage clock with historical inscription The movement numbered 637
13 July 2023, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£700 - £1,000
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A most interesting mid 19th century French gorge cased carriage clock with historical inscription
The movement numbered 637
The rippled handle over an oval inspection window and bold cornice to glazed sides and a moulded base, the cornice engraved TONIGHT AT EIGHT, the base further engraved Wm. E GLADSTONE TO HENRY SEDLEY - LONDON - MAY 21ST 1864. The white rectangular Roman and Arabic enamel dial with Breguet style moon hands. The movement with silvered jewelled English lever escapement striking the hours and half-hours on a gong. 18cms (7ins) high.
The rippled handle over an oval inspection window and bold cornice to glazed sides and a moulded base, the cornice engraved TONIGHT AT EIGHT, the base further engraved Wm. E GLADSTONE TO HENRY SEDLEY - LONDON - MAY 21ST 1864. The white rectangular Roman and Arabic enamel dial with Breguet style moon hands. The movement with silvered jewelled English lever escapement striking the hours and half-hours on a gong. 18cms (7ins) high.
Footnotes
William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898) was a British Liberal politician and Prime Minister for four non-consecutive terms. He also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
He was behind many reforms, such as the Trade Union Act of 1871 and pushed for individual liberty and to loosen political and economic restraints. He opposed several wars and was a careful manager of state finances. In 1864 - the year that he gifted this clock to Henry Sedley - he made a speech in which he stated that in principle he did not see why all men could not be enfranchised.
The recipient of the clock, Henry Sedley is almost certainly the American journalist who visited England from circa 1862 to 1865. During this time, he published two novels; 'Dangerfield's Rest: A Romance' in 1864, and 'Marion Rooke; or, the Quest for Fortune' in 1865. It has not been possible to ascertain the nature of the relationship between the two men, nor the relevance of the inscription 'Tonight at Eight'. Sedley was born in Boston in 1835 and died in New York City in 1899. During a long career, he was one of the editors of the New York Evening Post, Times, and Commercial Advertiser; founder and, for a time, editor of the Round Table.
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