The Blakeway Dynasty

Each skilled clockmaker must have completed a long apprenticeship with a master and then either stayed with that business or moved elsewhere to meet a need for clocks.  A good example of this is the Blakeway family.

Thomas Blakeway of Rushbury (1724-1805) was baptised 1724 and was brother to Charles Blakeway, clockmaker of Albrighton.  He was a maker of turret clocks and examples are quoted made for churches in 1765, 1775, 1784 and 1794 and subsequent maintenance.   He had a son, John, who continued the business in Rushbury and another, Thomas Blakeway who worked in Wenlock.  The village of Rushbury lies in Apedale below the ridge of Wenlock Edge and near Acton Scott Working Farm.  In 1796 Thomas married his cousin Priscilla who was the daughter of Charles Blakeway of Albrighton.

Charles Blakeway of Albrighton (1749-1809) clockmaker son of Thomas and Hannah Blakeway of Rushbury baptised 1749, brother to Thomas Blakeway, Jnr. of Rushbury.  He married Elizabeth Barney of Albrighton in 1770 and had two children, both girls.    A listing for a Charles Blakeway in Shifnal in 1789 probably covers the same individual.  There was also a Thomas Blakeway of Kinfare (aka Kinver), Staffordshire, near Stourbridge.  Thomas Blakeway of Much Wenlock (1765-1795) was the son of Thomas and Ethelreda Blakeway of Rushbury and is mentioned as a clockmaker in 1789.  

Thomas Blakeway of Broseley (Loomes 1836-1850) is a further development of the Blakeway family.  The 1841 census return lists him as aged 65 so the dates given must be his working years and the British Museum records him as both clock and watchmaker with working years as 1776-1850 and based in High Street, Broseley.  Clocks made by him do surface very occasionally.

In the Coach House of Delbury Hall, Diddlebury near Craven Arms, the original clock in the clock tower, made by Thomas Blakeway of Rushbury in 1753, still accurately chimes the hours. 

An 18^th century longcase cottage clock by Thomas Blakeway with the town name of Wellington sold recently on eBay.

This is the face of an 8 day clock by Thomas Blakeway of Broseley that has probably been in the town ever since it was made.

The Hartshornes

The family name is said by some to have come from the village of Hartshorne in the Midlands but could surely have been assembled during past centuries anywhere that had a forest and deer.  The name has certainly been around Broseley since Elizabethan times.  The Hartshorne Village website records that: ‘The Hartshornes were a branch of the Derbyshire family taking their name from the unique Derby place name, they were long settled in Benthall, Salop and later at Broseley.’ 

An archived Bamford auction advertisement  reads ‘Pocket watch by Thomas Hartshorne who was born at Polesworth 22^nd July 1780, son of William Hartshorne and Dorothy Bolton, his wife who was a Polesworth girl.  (Polesworth is at the northern tip of Warwickshire and is only four miles from Tamworth).  He was apprenticed, probably to his father who was an Albrighton (Salop) watchmaker (working 1783-1794) and set up at Coleshill 1801. He married in 1810 and signed watches from both Coleshill and at Polesworth.  There was a Richard Hartshorne working as a watch maker in Broseley 1782/1789 and a James making steel watch chains at Birmingham 1784-1791 both were probably close kin.’ 

William Hartshorne of Broseley was recorded as being apprenticed to a John Baddeley clock maker at Albrighton, Salop, 2nd February 1783 for 7 years at a premium of £12.  Baillie records him as in Broseley 1793 as a watchmaker.

Loomes has three ‘Hartshornes’ listed for the later part of the 19^th century but none in Broseley, only an Edmund in London 1869-81, Thomas in Coleshill 1835 and a William in London in 1875.  When other adverts for long case clocks say the ‘style was influenced by Hartshorne’ it is not easy to know to which Hartshorne they are referring!

Baillie reports that a watch had been seen marked as made by William Hogshorne, presumably a spelling error somewhere.

On the 5^th May 2011 an antique long case clock dating from 1800 - 1827 was sold unnoticed on eBay amongst the furniture.  It had a painted dial with the name 'WILLIAM HARTSHORNE, BROSELEY' and an 8 day movement that chimed on the hour.  A presentation plate on the inside of the door said "This clock was presented by the employees of the Madeley Wood Iron Company, Shropshire to Edward Smith and Mary Taylor on their marriage May 8th 1827." 

Recently a Hartshorn 30-hour long case clock was re-imported back to Shropshire after being fully restored in Poznan, Poland.

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Loomes also lists an unknown ‘Hinksman’ in Madeley c1750.  On the 28^th April, 2008 , a mid to late 18th century oak 30 hour longcase clock with hour hand only by  Hinksman with the town name of Broseley, was sold at the Royal Jersey Showground in the Channel Islands.  By an untraceable route through Wales it has now found its way back to a home in Broseley.

  A very similar dial can be seen on a Hinksman clock from Madeley, the other side of the Iron Bridge over the River Severn from Broseley.  It is now in the USA.  There are also Hinksman clockmakers listed in nearby Bridgnorth.  (L & G Auctioneers, USA)

Onions of Broseley

James Hurdley has records of a Peter Onions in Broseley c1760 and W. Onions in 1790.  Baillie has no record for Broseley but has records the surname ‘Onion’ being used by a Thomas in London 1702, John Clarkson in London 1762, John in Stockport 1785 and a John in Manchester 1794-1800.  Loomes lists a Peter Onions in Broseley c1760.

W. Onions - A long case clock with face inscribed ‘Onions’ Broseley is dated 1790 is illustrated in ‘The Grandfather Clock’ by Ernest L. Edwards in 1971.  Another is known in Broseley.  It does not show an initial for a Christian name.

    ‘The maker, W. Onions of Broseley, was a brother of a distinguished figure in the Shropshire iron trade of the last century - the late Mr. Thomas Onions of Stirchley. Their father, Peter Onions of Broseley, in conjunction with the father of the late Doctor Cranage, invented, as a smelter of iron at the ’Dale, a process of puddling, which, according to Mr. Randall, completely revolutionised the iron-making world.  Mr. T. Onions died at Stirchley, May 1873, aged eighty-six. His brother, William, the presumed maker of the clock, was about four years his junior. Beginning life as a clock-maker, he eventually entered the detective service and was for some years resident in Paris. His later years were spent in Staffordshire, where he died some time in the Sixties.  (Miss) S. BARKER, Dawley.  (Letter in Shropshire Star quoted in Broseley.org.uk website).

There is a recently restored 8-day long case clock by W. Onions in that is now in Telford.

Reynolds

‘David Reynolds, clock and watchmaker of Broseley was charged in 1842 with feloniously stealing one screw spanner, value 5/-, the property of William Barker.’ – Shropshire Star.  He is not listed by Loomes although the list does include 34 others with that surname elsewhere.

Census Returns

The 1801, 1811, 1821 and 1831 census returns were carried out by the ecclesiastical authorities and only recorded the very basic details of people, and these were mainly just naming householders with numbers in each house, sometimes divided up into males and females and in 1821 into age groupings.  Some actually name all inhabitants and include extra details like relationships, occupations and ages.  Only in Ireland in 1821 and 1831 were full details of all inhabitants required .in the rest of Britain, compilers, which were the overseers of the poor, teachers and clergy, were not instructed to give any names at all.  Rough drafts of local returns were put into the local parish chest whilst the statistics only were sent to the census office.

Earlier forms of taxation can be classed as census returns in many respects.  In 1694 a tax was introduced on births, marriages, burials, bachelors over 25 and childless widowers in England and Wales, this was after the Marriage Duties Act or marriage tax. It was repealed in 1705/6.  Some of these early returns survive in full or in part, and depending on the county and diocese they can be inspected.  The land Tax Assessments (1780 - 1825) are a very good way of locating the heads of house too. These should be in the local CRO. (County Records Office at Shrewsbury). (from: DotH Answerbank 23:31 Thu 29th Nov 2007)

At one time there was a fine turret clock on the Broseley town hall but the building was replaced with a supermarket.  The movement is may be in store in the Coalbrookdale Museum warehouse.  However, this photo shows the clock with 'IV' for the number '4' whereas the one in the store has a stone face with 'IIII'.

Acknowledgements

Many sincere thanks for help given by Broseley Library, Steve Dewhirst, James Hurdley, Melinda Evans and Miss M Gibbons of The Clock Shop in Bridgnorth Antiques Centre.