Hurst, Michael

• Hurst, Michael George

Michael George Hurst (1924–2017) was a horological historian and restorer, a founder member of the Antiquarian Horological Society (1953), a member of its Council from 1968 to 2010, and the author of several articles published in Antiquarian Horology.

He received a BSc degree in engineering from Imperial College and served in RAF as a pupil pilot in 1943–45. After the war, he worked as assistant engineer and eventually joined Hurst, Peirce and Malcolm, a family firm of Consulting Civil and Structural Engineers, who were involved in the rebuilding of Mercers’ Hall, Brewers’ Hall and Grocers’ Hall. He became senior partner in 1969.

Michael developed an interest in antiquarian horology, especially in styles, mechanisms, original methods of clockmaking, restoration and reconstruction of early English and Continental pieces. He was particularly interested in the work of various significant seventeenth–century makers, notably Edward East and Ahasuerus Fromanteel. In 1964, he assisted in the organisation of the “Collectors’ Pieces” exhibition celebrating the tenth anniversary of the AHS. He also served for many years as an assessor/examiner on the Clocks Course at West Dean College. In 1970, Michael was admitted as a Freeman of the Clockmakers’ Company, taking the Livery in 1973, and serving as Steward in 1981. In 2003, the year of the fiftieth anniversary of the AHS, he was elected a Fellow for exceptional services to the Society. In 2010, he retired from the AHS Council after just over 40 years’ service, being elected a Vice President.

He was accompanied in the pursuit of these interests by his wife Jacqueline (née Moore), whom he married in 1964. Together they developed a small horological collection and library. The Hursts lived in Mill Hill, London.

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For obituaries of Michael Hurst by Jonathan Betts and James Nye, see Antiquarian Horology, vol. 31 no. 1 (March 2017), pp. 30-31, and Horological Journal, vol. 159 no. 5 (May 2017), p. 202.

Image drawn from Antiquarian Horology (March 2017), p. 30.