Área de identidad
Código de referencia
Título
Fecha(s)
- 1846–2003 (Creación)
Nivel de descripción
Volumen y soporte
16 boxes (2.3 linear metres)
Área de contexto
Nombre del productor
Historia biográfica
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.
Institución archivística
Historia archivística
Origen del ingreso o transferencia
Deposited with the AHS at Ticehurst on 26 July 2008.
Área de contenido y estructura
Alcance y contenido
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.
Valorización, destrucción y programación
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.
Acumulaciones
An additional deposit is expected.
Sistema de arreglo
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
Área de condiciones de acceso y uso
Condiciones de acceso
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.
Condiciones
Idioma del material
Escritura del material
Notas sobre las lenguas y escrituras
Mostly English, some French, German and Spanish
Características físicas y requisitos técnicos
Instrumentos de descripción
instrumento de descripción generado
Área de materiales relacionados
Existencia y localización de originales
Existencia y localización de copias
Unidades de descripción relacionadas
Área de notas
Identificador/es alternativo(os)
Puntos de acceso
Puntos de acceso por materia
Puntos de acceso por lugar
Puntos de acceso por autoridad
Tipo de puntos de acceso
Área de control de la descripción
Identificador de la descripción
Identificador de la institución
Reglas y/o convenciones usadas
Estado de elaboración
Nivel de detalle
Fechas de creación revisión eliminación
Idioma(s)
Escritura(s)
Fuentes
Nota del archivista
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.