Timothy Mason was an English clockmaker active in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, during the early eighteenth century. He is associated with longcase clocks featuring eight-day, weight-driven movements, and surviving examples bear the signature “Tim Mason.” His documented working address was in Lords Street, Gainsborough.
Background
Timothy Mason was born in 1695 and was based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, an important market town in the English Midlands. His working life coincided with the expansion of provincial clockmaking, when local makers increasingly supplied domestic longcase clocks outside London.
A 1714 lease and release records Mason of Gainsborough as a clock-maker and names Elizabeth Mason as his wife. The document concerned property at Crossells Farm in Stretton and involved a consideration of £42, providing evidence of Mason's participation in property and contractual affairs as well as in the clockmaking trade.
Career
Mason worked as a clockmaker in Gainsborough and was associated with Lords Street. He constructed longcase clocks with eight-day movements, a format in which the clock required winding approximately weekly and used separate weight-driven trains for timekeeping and striking. His dials were signed “Tim Mason,” allowing surviving examples to be connected with his workshop.
The longcase clock was a major domestic timekeeping form in early eighteenth-century England. Its tall case enclosed the pendulum and weights, while the developing provincial trade enabled makers outside London to produce clocks for regional customers. Examples attributed to Mason include movements with two winding holes on either side of the dial and separate weights for the pendulum and striking mechanisms.
Mason's inventory and personal estate, dated 22 January 1734, contained no listed trade stock. The modest certified value of £9 13s. 6d. has been interpreted as evidence that he had retired before his death and had disposed of his stock, tools, and work in progress.
Achievements
Mason constructed early eighteenth-century English longcase clocks with eight-day, weight-driven movements, including separate mechanisms for timekeeping and striking. Surviving dials signed “Tim Mason” provide evidence of his individual workshop production in Gainsborough.
Interests
Horology and the construction of longcase clocks.
Connections
A 1714 legal instrument identifies Elizabeth Mason as Timothy Mason's wife.
Wife:
Elizabeth Mason
Named as Timothy Mason's wife in a lease and release dated 3–4 December 1714 concerning property at Crossells Farm, Stretton.
References
Timothy Mason (clockmaker)
Reference article documenting Mason's life dates, Gainsborough base, Lords Street address, longcase clock construction, signed dials, estate inventory, and the 1714 property document naming Elizabeth Mason.
Chats on Old Clocks
Arthur Hayden's history of clocks identifies Timothy Mason as a clockmaker and places him within a family and regional tradition of English provincial clockmaking.
