A 12″ dial wall clock, stored in a dark cupboard for about 25 years, came to light recently as its time for restoration had come. One of the perks of a clockmaker’s work is discovering hidden treasures of names and dates engraved, often roughly, on clock movements. Engraving was a general practice that recorded the maker, repairer, and relevant date. Clockmaker and repairer Graham Mulligan initially thought the clock movement was English Fusee circa 1860s housed in a Tasmanian blackwood case. On a closer inspection, he was surprised to find the quality of the movement to be very low, indicating that it was not English Fusee. Knowing the case was Tasmanian and the movement of low quality gave the thought, was the movement also made in Tasmania? While dismantling the movement, Graham found a signature inside the brass Fusee winding cone, ‘Prescott 1867’. With this information and our research from our website Hands of Time, The Index of Clock and Watchmakers in Tasmania, it was clear that the clockmaker was one of the Prescott family who emigrated to Australia in 1854. Graham discussed his theory with John Hawkins, a highly respected authority on antique clocks, and he agreed. One of Edward Prescott’s children probably made the clock while apprenticing under their father.
Edward Prescott was born in Ireland in about 1826 to shoemaker John Prescott and his wife, Sarah. In 1848, he signed The William Smith O’Brien Petition, a petition appealing for mercy and the release of the Irish rebel William Smith O’Brien. This act portrayed Edward’s support for O’Brien and likely political beliefs. O’Brien’s death sentence was commuted to transportation for life, and he was sent to Van Diemen’s Land, arriving in October 1849.
The young Irish watchmaker and jeweller Edward’s journey to the other side of the world was a stark contrast. Before emigrating, he married widow Kate (also known as Katherine) Smith at St Mary’s Church in Dublin on 12 January 1851. A son Charles was born in about 1852, George in 1853, and John Otway in 1854 on board the ship William Money. Edward was probably seeking a better life for his family. Conditions in Ireland were dire because of the Great Famine. It was a time of starvation, hardship, and death caused by diseased crops. The family arrived in Melbourne in August 1854, where Edward worked briefly as foreman to watchmaker William Bennett. In about 1856, they relocated to Hobart Town in Tasmania. Clock and watchmaker Francis Abbott was Edward’s first employer. He later established a business on Murray Street near St David’s Church in 1859, beginning a family enterprise spanning decades in Tasmania and Victoria.
The Prescott family grew with two more children, Katherine, born in 1857, and Frederick in 1860. Edward’s four sons followed him in the watchmaking and jewellery trade, most likely training under their father in Hobart Town. In December 1875, after nearly 20 years in the colony, Edward sold the business to Mr William Golding, a previous employee of clock and watchmaker David Barclay. The Prescott’s family business would have been an important part of the watchmaking and jewellery trade in Tasmania. A move back to Melbourne followed, and Edward set up business on High Street, St Kilda, under the banner E Prescott and Sons.
We can only wonder which Prescott crafted the 12″ dial wall clock. At the time of the clock engraving in 1867, Charles was about 15, George 14, John 13, Katherine 10, and Frederick about six. Charles worked in the trade and, it seems, lived a troubled life plagued with insolvency, embezzling, divorce, and gaol. George partnered in business with his brother John for some years and worked in his trade from several locations in Hobart, Tasmania. He died at the Launceston General Hospital on 20 July 1910. John worked in his trade on High Street in St Kilda and died at 77 in 1932. Frederick worked in the family business before moving to Cootamundra in New South Wales and opening a watchmaking and jewellery business. Following this, he spent about three years in Europe, learning more about his trade. He returned to Australia and worked on High Street, St Kilda, then in Bendigo, until his death in 1913.
Edward and Katherine (senior) Prescott died at St Kilda in Melbourne. Edward on 10 October 1883, aged 57, and Katherine the following year on 6 November, aged 61. Their legacy lives on through their descendants, including a grandson who worked as a watchmaker and jeweller and another grandson who played in the Victorian Football League for Carlton, kicking one goal in the Grand Final against Fitzroy in 1904. The maker of the 1867 dial clock, however, remains unknown.
© Sallie Mulligan, October 2024.
Edward Prescott – https://handsoftime.com.au/listings/prescott-edward/
George Frederick Prescott – https://handsoftime.com.au/listings/prescott-george-frederick/
Frederick Edward Prescott – https://handsoftime.com.au/listings/prescott-frederick-edward/
References:
Web: Ancestry: Ireland Select Marriages 1851; Victoria Australia Passenger Lists 1854; Victoria Australia Divorce Record 1893 [Charles Prescott], Victoria Police Gazette 1890; Find A Grave Index 1913 [Frederick Prescott]; Australia Electoral Roll, Victoria 1914.
Findmypast, The William Smith O’Brien Petition 1848.
TAHO: CON37/1/5 [William Smith O’Brien]; AD960/1/31 Will No. 8168 1910 [George Prescott].
Victoria Births Deaths Marriages, Birth Reg. No. 9/1854 [John Prescott]; Death Reg. No. 12754/1883 [Edward Prescott], Death Reg. No. 14267/1884 [Catherine Prescott].
Newspapers: The Hobart Town Daily Mercury 11 Aug 1859; The Tasmanian Tribune 9 Dec 1875; The Argus 8 Nov 1875; The Mercury 22 Jul 1880; Cootamundra Herald 12 August 1882; The Burrangong Argus 18 Apr 1883; Tasmanian News 13 Feb 1886; The Argus 5 Mar 1887, 9 Jul 1932; The Gippsland Daily News 24 Jun 1890; The Australasian 24 Sep 1904; Bendigo Advertiser 2 Apr 1913