J. B. Joyce & Co, clockmakers, were founded in Shropshire in England. The company claim to be the oldest clock manufacturer in the world, originally established in 1690,[1] and have been part of the Smith of Derby Group since 1965.[2] The claim is challenged by another English firm of clockmakers, Thwaites & Reed, who claim to have been in continuous manufacture since before 1740, with antecedents to 1610.
 Former factory of J. B. Joyce & Co | |
| Industry | Clock manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Founded | Shropshire, England 1690 |
| Founder | William Joyce |
| Defunct | 2012 |
| Headquarters | |
| Products |
|
History
William Joyce began in the North Shropshire village of Cockshutt making longcase clocks. The family business was handed down from father to son and in 1790 moved to High Street, Whitchurch, Shropshire. In 1834 Thomas Joyce made large clocks for local churches and public buildings. In 1849 the company copied the Big Ben escapement designed by Lord Grimthorpe. J. B. Joyce also installed synchronous electric clocks in a number of railway stations, including Liverpool's Lime Street Station, Aberystwyth in Wales, and Carnforth in Lancashire.[3] In 1904 J. B. Joyce moved to Station Road, Whitchurch. John Edgar Howard Smith (1907–1983), a former managing director of Smith of Derby Group, designed the first and subsequent synchronous electric movements for J. B. Joyce, and their associated electro-mechanical bell striking units.[4][5]
In 1964, Norman Joyce, the last member of the Joyce family, retired and sold the company to Smith of Derby.[6] During the 1970s, many of the mechanical clocks were changed to use the electric motors made by the Smith parent company. However, J. B. Joyce continued to operate as a separate company, with mainly heritage work being carried out in the factory up to 2012, when a timed-bid auction was held to sell off surplus equipment, tools, and clock parts, at the Station Road premises.[7] Interior designers, collectors of historic items, and aficionados of J. B. Joyce, joined to bid for a "piece of horological history".[8]
Notable clocks
United Kingdom
- Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston
- Railway station, Carnforth, Lancashire
- Chester Cathedral (1873)[9]
- Eastgate Clock, Chester, Cheshire (Installed 1897)[10]
- Chichester Cathedral (1878)[9]
- Jubilee Clock Tower, Churchill, North Somerset (Installed 1898)[4]
- Dukinfield Town Hall, Dukinfield, Lancs.
- Lichfield Cathedral (1891)[9]
- Liverpool Lime Street railway station, Liverpool
- The Royal Exchange, Manchester
- Christ Church, Oxford (1888)[9]
- Salisbury Cathedral (1883)[9]
- Southwell Minster (1898)[9]
- Tewkesbury Abbey (1887)[9]
- Greenall's Brewery Clock Tower, Stockton Heath, Warrington, Cheshire (Installed 1845)
- Worcester Cathedral, Worcester, Worcestershire (1869-71)
Wales
- Aberystwyth railway station, Aberystwyth
- Town Clock, Tredegar
- St Chad's Church, Hanmer, Wrexham
- The Market House, Rothwell, Northamptonshire (1895-96)
Worldwide
- General Post Office, Sydney, Australia
- St George's College Clock Tower, Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India[11]
- Custom House, Shanghai, People's Republic of China (Shipped to Shanghai in 1927)[12]
- City Hall, Cape Town, South Africa
- Post office "Station C" clock, Heritage Hall, Vancouver, Canada
Gallery
Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Tower, Birmingham
Eastgate, Chester
Custom House, Shanghai
Cape Town City Hall, Cape Town
General Post Office, Sydney
See also
References
Further reading
- Elliott, Douglas J. (1979). Shropshire Clock and Watchmakers. London: Phillimore. ISBN 978-0-85033-328-2. OCLC 6279084.
Contains a chapter on the history of J. B. Joyce & Co.
- Hughes, Richard; Wood, Ash (1987). Clock and Watchmakers of Whitchurch. Whitchurch: Whitchurch Area Archaeological Group. OCLC 1138565272.
- Thomas, Steve; Thomas, Darlah (2013). Joyce of Whitchurch: Clockmakers 1690–1965. Chester: Inbeat publication. ISBN 978-0-9573733-1-0. OCLC 1059414120.
External links
- Official website of the British Horological Institute.
- J. B. Joyce at Grace's Guide.
- The Joyce Building at Whitchurch, Shropshire.
- John Smith & Sons, Midland Clock Works, Derby Ltd.
- Obituary of Nicholas Smith at the Wayback Machine (archived 21 January 2021), former managing director of Smith of Derby, clockmakers.
- Time Detectives, discovering the history of railway clocks at the National Railway Museum.