Where are the New Victorians?
I recently interviewed a retired chronometer maker in Cumbria. Now 92, still lucid and by turns self-deprecatingly funny and passionate, Tony Mercer is grandson of the illustrious Thomas Mercer who started the dynasty of Thomas Mercer Ltd, making chronometers, clocks, instruments and measuring equipment in London and St Albans from 1858 to 1984, when this grand firm was regretfully wound up by Tony's son William, the fourth and final generation of the dynasty.
Just in case you didn’t know, Harrison was the winner of the Government prize for answering the longitude question (as in the BBC docu-movie Longitude) with a chronometer which took navigation from hit-and-miss to a precise science. Of course, they never paid him all of what they promised – this was England, even then. To get most of it, George lll had to threaten to intercede with Parliament. http://www.scribd.com/doc/23717890/Marine-Chronometer
This invention obviously had a significant impact on the Royal Navy, and thus the British Empire. Great Britain, already number one in the world, out-distanced the competition even further. British ships planted the Union Jack all over the world, ‘discovering’ places first, acquiring them and maintaining them - usually, though not always, to the Empire's economic advantage.
I recently interviewed a retired chronometer maker in Cumbria. Now 92, still lucid and by turns self-deprecatingly funny and passionate, Tony Mercer is grandson of the illustrious Thomas Mercer who started the dynasty of Thomas Mercer Ltd, making chronometers, clocks, instruments and measuring equipment in London and St Albans from 1858 to 1984, when this grand firm was regretfully wound up by Tony's son William, the fourth and final generation of the dynasty.
Just in case you didn’t know, Harrison was the winner of the Government prize for answering the longitude question (as in the BBC docu-movie Longitude) with a chronometer which took navigation from hit-and-miss to a precise science. Of course, they never paid him all of what they promised – this was England, even then. To get most of it, George lll had to threaten to intercede with Parliament. http://www.scribd.com/doc/23717890/Marine-Chronometer
This invention obviously had a significant impact on the Royal Navy, and thus the British Empire. Great Britain, already number one in the world, out-distanced the competition even further. British ships planted the Union Jack all over the world, ‘discovering’ places first, acquiring them and maintaining them - usually, though not always, to the Empire's economic advantage.
Thomas Mercer was a big player in that tradition. Unlike Harrison, who left no long-term business legacy, Mercer could and did design, manufacture, and distribute (albeit often through middle-men who took a lot of the kudos, notably at the Royal Navy trials).
Tony never knew his grandfather, but recalls “My father Frank worshipped him. He remembered Thomas as single-minded – every other aspect of his life, including his wife and family, was geared towards his business, his profession, his vocation. Of course, that’s how it was back then. Discipline came naturally, and people accepted it.”
Tony sees himself as part of a threatened species – the Victorian entrepreneur/creator, with a real sense of one’s own place and purpose, and part of a bigger picture of a British industry which now is (generally) irrelevant on the world stage. What impresses one about the man is how serenely confident he is about his and his family’s achievements – yet this is tempered with a regret that Great Britain did not do more – both to invest more in industry back then, and to invest more in diversification later. It is significant that he had to go to France to study his craft – we were at the forefront of navigation, and yet we had no equivalent of the Ecole Nationale d’Horologerie – (National School of Watch-making) – where Englishmen were so rare that Tony was nicknamed l’Anglais (the Englishman)
I quote liberally from the dust-cover of one of Tony’s several books on his family history of chronometer-making: “Thomas Mercer began as a watchmaker in Liverpool, but moved to Clerkenwell, London, the centre of the horological industry, where he began to manufacture marine chronometers. Initial success in the Kew Chronometer Trials led him to expand his business to St Albans, where the factory soon began to dominate chronometer manufacture, producing them for many other ‘makers’ world – wide. As well as marine and survey chronometers, regulator clocks and precision timekeepers of many other types were produced, especially chronometer-controlled master clock systems for both cargo ships and ocean liners. Some of the historic chronometers that were restored at the factory included John Harrison’s H1 and H3. One chapter considers the maintenance and repair of chronometers, as well as the detailed procedures necessary to rate a chronometer, so that it is accurate to a fraction of a second a day over a wide range of temperatures. Only then is it of use for navigation at sea.
He was born in St. Albans, educated at Sedbergh School, Yorkshire, and Ecole Nationale d’Horologerie, France, where he learned watch-making, clock-making and tool-making. On his return he worked in all departments of the family firm, including five years as a chronometer springer. He developed a keen interest in all facets of the chronometer trade, from technical aspects of chronometers to the history of the instruments and the people who made them. He became Works Director, Sales Director, then Chairman of Thomas Mercer Ltd. He has travelled widely, including taking displays of Mercer instruments to trade exhibits in Europe, America, and the Far East, including the Republic of China.
Tony Mercer has been Chairman and President of the British Horological Institute, Master of the Clockmakers’ Company, Chairman and President of the British Watch and Clock Manufacturers’ Association, and Chairman of the British Nautical Instrument Trade Association. He has written articles and lectured on the marine chronometer, and is the author of Mercer Chronometers (1978) and Chronometer Makers of the World (1991).”
UPDATE - Interesting developments in Mercer's great collaborators Sinclair Harding:
http://wohnraumuhren.de/fileadmin/Preislisten/SINCLAIR_HARDING_Preisliste.pdf
Tony never knew his grandfather, but recalls “My father Frank worshipped him. He remembered Thomas as single-minded – every other aspect of his life, including his wife and family, was geared towards his business, his profession, his vocation. Of course, that’s how it was back then. Discipline came naturally, and people accepted it.”
Tony sees himself as part of a threatened species – the Victorian entrepreneur/creator, with a real sense of one’s own place and purpose, and part of a bigger picture of a British industry which now is (generally) irrelevant on the world stage. What impresses one about the man is how serenely confident he is about his and his family’s achievements – yet this is tempered with a regret that Great Britain did not do more – both to invest more in industry back then, and to invest more in diversification later. It is significant that he had to go to France to study his craft – we were at the forefront of navigation, and yet we had no equivalent of the Ecole Nationale d’Horologerie – (National School of Watch-making) – where Englishmen were so rare that Tony was nicknamed l’Anglais (the Englishman)
I quote liberally from the dust-cover of one of Tony’s several books on his family history of chronometer-making: “Thomas Mercer began as a watchmaker in Liverpool, but moved to Clerkenwell, London, the centre of the horological industry, where he began to manufacture marine chronometers. Initial success in the Kew Chronometer Trials led him to expand his business to St Albans, where the factory soon began to dominate chronometer manufacture, producing them for many other ‘makers’ world – wide. As well as marine and survey chronometers, regulator clocks and precision timekeepers of many other types were produced, especially chronometer-controlled master clock systems for both cargo ships and ocean liners. Some of the historic chronometers that were restored at the factory included John Harrison’s H1 and H3. One chapter considers the maintenance and repair of chronometers, as well as the detailed procedures necessary to rate a chronometer, so that it is accurate to a fraction of a second a day over a wide range of temperatures. Only then is it of use for navigation at sea.
He was born in St. Albans, educated at Sedbergh School, Yorkshire, and Ecole Nationale d’Horologerie, France, where he learned watch-making, clock-making and tool-making. On his return he worked in all departments of the family firm, including five years as a chronometer springer. He developed a keen interest in all facets of the chronometer trade, from technical aspects of chronometers to the history of the instruments and the people who made them. He became Works Director, Sales Director, then Chairman of Thomas Mercer Ltd. He has travelled widely, including taking displays of Mercer instruments to trade exhibits in Europe, America, and the Far East, including the Republic of China.
Tony Mercer has been Chairman and President of the British Horological Institute, Master of the Clockmakers’ Company, Chairman and President of the British Watch and Clock Manufacturers’ Association, and Chairman of the British Nautical Instrument Trade Association. He has written articles and lectured on the marine chronometer, and is the author of Mercer Chronometers (1978) and Chronometer Makers of the World (1991).”
UPDATE - Interesting developments in Mercer's great collaborators Sinclair Harding:
http://wohnraumuhren.de/fileadmin/Preislisten/SINCLAIR_HARDING_Preisliste.pdf
