Martin Burgess
Encyclopedia
Edward Martin Burgess FSA
FBHI
, born 21 November 1931, known as Martin Burgess, is an English
horologist and master clockmaker
.
, Holt
, between 1944 and 1949, where he was a member of Farfield
. His exact contemporaries at Farfield included Robert Aagaard
, later a furniture maker and conservator who founded the youth movement Cathedral Camps.
Burgess's memories of Gresham's during the freezing months of January to March 1947, the coldest British winter on record, are quoted at length in I Will Plant Me a Tree: an Illustrated History of Gresham's School (2002). Not only was the winter icy cold, but because of fuel-shortages the school was unheated. Burgess recalls that "Periods were held in full overcoats and scarves and gloves. If it happened now the School would be closed, but such a step was not even thought of then. In any case, the roads were blocked... One day the School was called out to dig out a farm, or was it a small village? Hurrah! No periods! In the afternoon everyone prayed there would be periods, it was so cold. A man had died."
antiquities, Burgess turned to horology
and clock-making
and has specialized in building innovative and gigantic clock
s, often with a detached escapement
.
He is also a leading expert on John Harrison
, the 18th century horologist who built the first ever successful marine chronometer
, leading to the possibility of an accurate measurement of longitude
. Even now, the principles of Harrison's regulator clocks are not fully understood.
Burgess coined the term sculptural horology in the 1960s.
.
His magnificent Second Sculptural Clock, made in 1965, is now owned by the American graphic artist Donald Saff. The clock (which appeared on the cover of the Horological Journal for August 2001) has a massive compound pendulum
which beats at 2.5 seconds and an escape wheel which turns in five minutes. A limited edition of thirty-five half-size replicas, known as ‘Concord clocks’, Harrison style
with grasshopper escapement and compound pendulum, was made by E. Dent and has the dimensions 30" high, 14" wide, 11" deep.
His Gurney Clock was given to the people of Norwich
by Barclays Bank to mark the 200th anniversary of the founding of what is now Barclays by the Gurney
family in Norwich in 1775. The clock is in the shape of a golden lion automaton
in a golden castle (the lion and castle are two of the heraldic
symbols of Norwich) and has a weight-driven precision clock movement based closely on one designed in the 1740s by John Harrison
. On the hour, bronze balls are taken by the lion and travel down a track to a set of scales (a symbol of Barclay’s Bank) and on into the castle. The clock took eleven years to build and was housed in a public park, but by 1992 it had been badly vandalised. After a long campaign by the Norwich Society, it was then restored and installed in the Castle Mall, Norwich, inside a massive glass and metal case. A second, identical, clock movement remained unfinished and is currently (2011) being completed by Charles Frodsham
and Company.
Society of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
FBHI
British Horological Institute
The British Horological Institute is the representative body of the horological industry in the United Kingdom.-History:...
, born 21 November 1931, known as Martin Burgess, is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
horologist and master clockmaker
Clockmaker
A clockmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs clocks. Since almost all clocks are now factory-made, most modern clockmakers only repair clocks. Modern clockmakers may be employed by jewellers, antique shops, and places devoted strictly to repairing clocks and watches...
.
Early life
Burgess was educated at Gresham's SchoolGresham's School
Gresham’s School is an independent coeducational boarding school in Holt in North Norfolk, England, a member of the HMC.The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a free grammar school for forty boys, following King Henry VIII's dissolution of the Augustinian priory at Beeston Regis...
, Holt
Holt, Norfolk
Holt is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The town is north of the city of Norwich, west of Cromer and east of King's Lynn. The town is on the route of the A148 King's Lynn to Cromer road. The nearest railway station is in the town of Sheringham where access to the...
, between 1944 and 1949, where he was a member of Farfield
Farfield
Farfield is one of the seven boarding houses at Gresham's, an English public school at Holt, Norfolk. It was opened in 1911, as part of a surge of renewal and expansion at Gresham's led by George Howson, and the first housemaster and boys were transferred there from a smaller house called Bengal...
. His exact contemporaries at Farfield included Robert Aagaard
Robert Aagaard
Robert Aagaard OBE JP was an English furniture maker and conservator, magistrate, and founder of the youth movement Cathedral Camps.-Early life:...
, later a furniture maker and conservator who founded the youth movement Cathedral Camps.
Burgess's memories of Gresham's during the freezing months of January to March 1947, the coldest British winter on record, are quoted at length in I Will Plant Me a Tree: an Illustrated History of Gresham's School (2002). Not only was the winter icy cold, but because of fuel-shortages the school was unheated. Burgess recalls that "Periods were held in full overcoats and scarves and gloves. If it happened now the School would be closed, but such a step was not even thought of then. In any case, the roads were blocked... One day the School was called out to dig out a farm, or was it a small village? Hurrah! No periods! In the afternoon everyone prayed there would be periods, it was so cold. A man had died."
Career
After a first career as a restorer of EgyptianAncient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
antiquities, Burgess turned to horology
Horology
Horology is the art or science of measuring time. Clocks, watches, clockwork, sundials, clepsydras, timers, time recorders and marine chronometers are all examples of instruments used to measure time.People interested in horology are called horologists...
and clock-making
Clockmaker
A clockmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs clocks. Since almost all clocks are now factory-made, most modern clockmakers only repair clocks. Modern clockmakers may be employed by jewellers, antique shops, and places devoted strictly to repairing clocks and watches...
and has specialized in building innovative and gigantic clock
Clock
A clock is an instrument used to indicate, keep, and co-ordinate time. The word clock is derived ultimately from the Celtic words clagan and clocca meaning "bell". A silent instrument missing such a mechanism has traditionally been known as a timepiece...
s, often with a detached escapement
Escapement
In mechanical watches and clocks, an escapement is a device that transfers energy to the timekeeping element and enables counting the number of oscillations of the timekeeping element...
.
He is also a leading expert on John Harrison
John Harrison
John Harrison was a self-educated English clockmaker. He invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought device in solving the problem of establishing the East-West position or longitude of a ship at sea, thus revolutionising and extending the possibility of safe long distance sea travel in the Age...
, the 18th century horologist who built the first ever successful marine chronometer
Chronometer
Chronometer may refer to:* Chronometer watch, a watch tested and certified to meet certain precision standards* Hydrochronometer, a water clock* Marine chronometer, a timekeeper used for celestial navigation...
, leading to the possibility of an accurate measurement of longitude
Longitude
Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....
. Even now, the principles of Harrison's regulator clocks are not fully understood.
Burgess coined the term sculptural horology in the 1960s.
Notable clocks
Burgess’s Sculptural Clock with Bells has the dimensions 8’ high, 54½” wide, and 18½” deep, and is now in the Former Time Museum of Rockford, IllinoisRockford, Illinois
Rockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. Often referred to as "The Forest City", Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As reported in the 2010 U.S. census, the city was home to 152,871 people, the third most populated...
.
His magnificent Second Sculptural Clock, made in 1965, is now owned by the American graphic artist Donald Saff. The clock (which appeared on the cover of the Horological Journal for August 2001) has a massive compound pendulum
Pendulum
A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced from its resting equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the equilibrium position...
which beats at 2.5 seconds and an escape wheel which turns in five minutes. A limited edition of thirty-five half-size replicas, known as ‘Concord clocks’, Harrison style
John Harrison
John Harrison was a self-educated English clockmaker. He invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought device in solving the problem of establishing the East-West position or longitude of a ship at sea, thus revolutionising and extending the possibility of safe long distance sea travel in the Age...
with grasshopper escapement and compound pendulum, was made by E. Dent and has the dimensions 30" high, 14" wide, 11" deep.
His Gurney Clock was given to the people of Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
by Barclays Bank to mark the 200th anniversary of the founding of what is now Barclays by the Gurney
Gurney
A gurney, known as a trolley in British medical context, is the U.S. term for a type of stretcher used in modern hospitals and ambulances in developed areas. A hospital gurney is a kind of narrow bed on a wheeled frame which may be adjustable in height. For ambulances, a collapsible gurney is a...
family in Norwich in 1775. The clock is in the shape of a golden lion automaton
Automaton
An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:...
in a golden castle (the lion and castle are two of the heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
symbols of Norwich) and has a weight-driven precision clock movement based closely on one designed in the 1740s by John Harrison
John Harrison
John Harrison was a self-educated English clockmaker. He invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought device in solving the problem of establishing the East-West position or longitude of a ship at sea, thus revolutionising and extending the possibility of safe long distance sea travel in the Age...
. On the hour, bronze balls are taken by the lion and travel down a track to a set of scales (a symbol of Barclay’s Bank) and on into the castle. The clock took eleven years to build and was housed in a public park, but by 1992 it had been badly vandalised. After a long campaign by the Norwich Society, it was then restored and installed in the Castle Mall, Norwich, inside a massive glass and metal case. A second, identical, clock movement remained unfinished and is currently (2011) being completed by Charles Frodsham
Charles Frodsham
Charles Frodsham was a renowned English watch and clockmaker. He took over Arnold & Co in 1843 at 84 Strand, London...
and Company.
Publications
- The Mail-maker's Technique in The Antiquaries Journal Vol 33 (1953) 48-55
- Further Research into the Construction of Mail Garments in The Antiquaries Journal Vol 33 (1953) 193-202
- The Mail Shirt From Sinigaglia in The Antiquaries Journal Vol 37 (1957) 199-205
- A Mail Shirt From The Hearst Collection in The Antiquaries Journal
- A Habergeon of Westwale by William Reid and E. Martin Burgess in The Antiquaries Journal
- The Grasshopper Escapement, its Geometry and its Properties in Antiquarian Horology, Volume 7, part 5 (1970)
- Principles and Objectives, in Conservation of Clocks and Watches (ed. Peter B. Wills, British Horological Institute)
- How Greenwich Observatory Lost the Harrison Regulators (in Horological Journal, November 1974)
- The Harrison Regulator for the Gurney Clock (in Horological Journal, July 1987)
- Looking forward to the Harrison Seminar (in Horological Journal, July 1988)
- Reply to Mr Greene from Martin Burgess (in Horological Journal, April 1990)
- Questioning Airy (in Horological Journal, July 1990)
- Harrison & H4 (in Horological Journal, November 1993)
- Quest for Longitude (in Horological Journal, April 1997)
Honours
- Fellow of the Society of AntiquariesSociety of Antiquaries of LondonThe Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
- Fellow of the British Horological InstituteBritish Horological InstituteThe British Horological Institute is the representative body of the horological industry in the United Kingdom.-History:...