Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1846–2003 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
16 boxes (2.3 linear metres)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
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.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Deposited with the AHS at Ticehurst on 26 July 2008.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This collection comprises records created and collected by Francis Wadsworth. It includes a large series of original articles by various authors on horological and related topics (cut out of publications, many of them were purchased from antiquarian book dealers), as well as sales and auction catalogues and advertisements for clocks, watches and clockmaking tools; instructions, manuals, and patents; reference publications; alphabetical files relating to clockmaking firms and factories; exhibition and museum brochures; correspondence; ephemera; and papers relating to Wadsworth’s work on the AHS Publication Committee. In addition to purely horological topics, it reflects Francis Wadsworth’s interest in scientific instruments, stately houses and antique furniture and porcelain.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Copies and reprints of articles from Antiquarian Horology and Horological Journal have been disposed of, as they are available at the AHS in the original publications.
Accruals
An additional deposit is expected.
System of arrangement
The one series currently available on the catalogue, the horological articles, is arranged alphabetically by author, with anonymous articles arranged chronologically.
WAD/01: Horological articles
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
These records are mostly available for public access by prior appointment. Records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 2018.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Mostly English, some French, German and Spanish
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Generated finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
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Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
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Sources
Archivist's note
Part catalogued in June 2023 by the AHS Archivist. Other records collected by Frank Wadsworth, including correspondence, subject files, bibliographies, and other horological publications (catalogues, guides, manuals etc.) will be added to the catalogue after the final batch of material has been deposited at the AHS and catalogued.