Wadsworth, Francis

Francis Wadsworth (1935–2007) was the Antiquarian Horological Society’s Technical Enquiry Officer from 1965 to 1999, and the chairman of its Publication Committee. He studied horology at the Northampton Polytechnic’s National College of Horology and joined the Antiquarian Horological Society in 1954 as one of his youngest members. His career began at Smiths Clocks in Glasgow, where he designed alarm clocks and a timer, the latter of which went into production. In the early 1960s he moved to Cambridge to join W. G. Pye (later Pye Unicam), where he worked on the design of a scientific analysis equipment. Around that time, he started organising small meetings of local horologists, which later evolved into the East Anglian section of the AHS.

Francis was principally interested in watches. His paper, “A History of Repeating Watches'”, published in Antiquarian Horology from September 1965 to June 1966, became a definitive study of the subject and was later reprinted as a booklet. Another of his particular interests was the history of the Lancashire Watch Company. In his later years, he carried out a study of post-war clock manufacture in Britain.

As the Technical Enquiry Officer at the AHS for over thirty years, he answered enquiries from the members drawing on his encyclopaedic knowledge and his substantial private library. He promoted the role as the AHS as a publisher of horological books as the Chairman of its Publications Committee, and took an active role in their production. With his wife Christine, he hosted annual horological lunches at their home. As keen collectors on interesting horological items sourced from markets and fairs, they had a stand at the Brunel Clock Fairs for a number of years.

View collection: WAD - WADSWORTH, FRANCIS

For an obituary of Francis Wadsworth by R.H. Miles and the image used here, see Antiquarian Horology vol. 30 no. 4 (December 2007), pp. 468-69.