J Herschel-Shorland

This clock, still in the Herschel family, was made sometime before 1786, by Shelton for himself. A letter of this date, from Alexander Aubert, describes the sending of this Shelton clock, or rather regulator, to Slough by Webb & Burt's Reading Waggon. He gave the regulator to William as a friend and admirer. Aubert was a successful businessman with astronomical interests, who was born in London in 1730 and died in 1805. At the end of this letter he says:

I hope your brother (this must have been Alexander) is not gone and that the Clock gets your time enough for him to put it up for you. My best compliments to your sister (Caroline). I looked last night for the Comet (possibly one that Caroline had discovered) but could not see it where it ought to have been.

Aubert ended another letter to William in 1799:

Please give my regards to Mrs Herschel and the little 'satellite' (JFWH)!

A paper sent to the Royal Society in 1794 "On the Rotation of the Planet Saturn upon its Axis" gives a reference to the Shelton:

My time is kept by one of SHELTON'S clocks, set now and then by equal altitudes, taken with a 12-inch BIRD'S quadrant.

This is J F W Herschel's study at Collingwood. The Shelton clock can be seen far left with William's bust on top.

In 1912 the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical Society published copies of all of William's papers. Volume I of these, belonging to Col. John Herschel, shows this reference with a footnote.

In 1881 Col. John Herschel had the clock altered to help him in gravitational experiments. He had been appointed to the branch of the survey of India concerned with pendulum observations for the determination of gravity. In a letter kept with the clock he states:

Deputed to carry out further operations of this nature in England and USA, I contemplated using this clock in connection with the same; and as it did not appear to have been cleaned, or examined for perhaps half a century or more, I sent it to be overhauled by Parkinson & Frodsham.

At the same time Col, John had the pendulum separated from the main works and at Slough he later had the case suspended from two blocks. All this was done to ensure lateral stability. In June 1888 the clock was moved from Collingwood, where it had been kept for some time before 1881, to the Cottage at Observatory House, Slough. Here it was regulated and Col. John also had to cut a hole in the floor to allow the weight to fall sufficiently to allow the clock to go for 31 days before rewinding. His letter then goes on:

This installation was effected about 1889; and I then began the rating of the clock systematically and continued it without any long interruption till 1913.

The clock remained at Observatory House where it was continuously looked after by members of the Herschel family. In 1928 the regulator was sent to C Rohde & Son for repair and cleaning. Also Rohde was put in charge of winding it monthly and keeping it in order. In November 1932 the Rev. John Herschel asked them to give him a report on all repairs done since then. This bill of 1928 was the only one.

In 1968 the Shelton was partially dismantled for photographing the mechanism by a horologist from the British Museum. At about the same time Com. Howse of the Maritime Museum, Greenwich, was researching Capt. Cook's voyage round Australia with led him to check all the Shelton Clocks in existence. One of these clocks was taken by Cook on his trip. He hoped to find this clock. William Herschel's clock was well documented, but proved not to be the one that voyaged to Australia.

In 1980 the clock was cleaned and regulated before installation at Vivarage Road, Leamington Spa, where the Herschel-Shorlands lived before moving to Norfolk. In 1985 it was installed at Crossingford Lodge and then Swan Lane, Harleston, Norfolk. It still keeps perfect time.
Photographs by kind permission of the Trustees of National Maritime Museum.

Quoted from Issue No 121 of Newsletter of the Herschel Society of Japan