Beschreibung:

John Roucleiffe, Bridgewater, apprenticed to William Stumbels, an oak longcase clock the eight-day duration movement striking the hours on a bell, the twelve-inch square brass dial having a raised silvered chapter ring engraved with black Roman numerals, Arabic outer five-minute markings to the outer and signed either side of VI o'clock John Roucleiffe, Bridgewater, the silvered centre engraved with c-scroll decoration and having a subsidiary seconds dial and date aperture, with decorative blued steel hands and cast-brass female-head spandrels to the four corners, the oak case having turned pillars with cast-brass gilded capitals to the flat-topped hood, a raised mahogany panel to the base and standing on bracket feet, height 206cm * Biography - John Roucleiffe is recorded as having been apprenticed to the eminent clockmaker William Stumbels of Totnes in circa 1740 at a premium of £20.in 1760 he took an apprentice, John Pine for seven years at a premium of £10, and he was assessed at 2d for his house in the Totnes Poor Rate of 1762 after which he moved to Bridgewater. He was involved in maintaining many local parish church clocks, Stumbels having been a fine maker of church clocks, with records showing a payment of nine pounds for Cleaning and Righting the Parish Clock at Pawlett in 1755, with the last payment to him for the same work in 1785.in 1758 he cleaned the parish church clock at Goathurst with the last record of work on this being in 1778, whilst in 1757 he was paid eight-pounds to clean the Chedzoy church clock, then paid £10in 1759 to provide A new Church Clock, with his last payment from here being in 1772. He worked alongside Tristam Brimble when making and repairing the various church clocks and there is a longcase clock signed by both in the Blake Museum, Bridgewater. A silver pair-cased watch with champlevé dial as signed by Roucklieffe was illustrated in Transactions of the Devonshire Association in 1935. Ref: AJ Moore, the Clockmakers of Somerset, 1675-1900, Pub. 1998.