Collection SHE - SHENTON, ALAN AND RITA

Dr Frederick George Alan Shenton (1928–2003) was a medical doctor and horologist, with a thirty-five year career as a general practitioner (family doctor). His interest in horology led him to carry out research and documentation of clocks, watches and tools, as well as developing practical restoration skills. He was a member of the British Horological Institute, the Antiquarian Horological Society (which he joined in 1964), and the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors of America. In 1970, he became a founder member of the AHS Electrical Horology Group and acted as its chairman in 1975–79. He was a contributor to the major electrical horology exhibition, “Electrifying Time”, held at the Science Museum, London, from October 1976 to April 1977. A prolific author, he wrote several technical papers for the Group and contributed articles and book reviews for Antiquarian Horology. For some time he was a consultant to the publishers of the Horological Journal. In 1977 he co-authored, with his wife Rita, The Price Guide to Collectable Clocks 1840–1940, a reference book which has since seen three editions. In 1979, he published another successful book, The Eureka Clock. His last major work was Pocket Watches of the 19th and 20th Century, published in 1995.

To commemorate Dr Shenton’s interest in the nineteenth- and eighteenth century horology, and to encourage research and publication in the more recent horological subjects, in 2004 the AHS set up the Dr Alan Shenton Award. It is made for the best Antiquarian Horology article on timekeeping in the period since 1840.

The Shentons lived in Twickenham, London.

Rita Kathleen Shenton, née Chapman (1935–2004) was the Chairman of the Antiquarian Horological Society and the founder and owner of Rita Shenton Books.

Her interest in horology, shared with her husband Alan, started flourishing around 1971, when after years of working for an insurance company and raising three children, she was finally able to pursue it. In 1974 she established Rita Shenton Books, a business in second-hand trade of horological literature, which arose from the need to reduce the surplus of items in the Shentons’ ever-growing personal library. In 1976, the business expanded into publishing. That year, Rita wrote a short biography of Christopher Pinchbeck, Christopher Pinchbeck and His Family, which was followed in 1979 by Alan’s The Eureka Clock. In the meantime, they co-authored The Price Guide to Collectable Clocks 1840–1940, which became a classic reference book on the subject. Rita was also a prolific writer of articles for magazines and journals, especially Clocks, to which he became an important contributor right from its first issue in 1977, and where she published a regular column of news from the book trade.

Rita joined the Antiquarian Horological Society in 1972 and soon became involved in the organisation of its foreign tours, visiting museums and private collections and making them a great success. In 1978 she joined the Society’s Publication Committee, was involved in its programmes and lectures, and in 1986 became a full member of the Council. Ten years later she became the sixth Chairman of the AHS, the first woman to hold the post, and in 1998 she was elected a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. As a member of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Rita was awarded a Gold Medal in 2000, 'For an Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Horology and Dedication to the Association.' She was also a prime mover in the organisation and preparations for the AHS fiftieth anniversary celebrations at Oxford in 2003. After Alan’s death later in the same year she set up the Alan Shenton Memorial Fund both to commemorate his name and to further the cause of horology of the period 1840 to 1940. Shortly before her own death in 2004 she was unanimously elected Vice President of the AHS.