James Ivory (1729 – 1793) was a Scottish
watchmaker
A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their par ...
,
clockmaker
A clockmaker is an artisan who makes and/or repairs clocks. Since almost all clocks are now factory-made, most modern clockmakers only repair clocks. Modern clockmakers may be employed by jewellers, antique shops, and places devoted strictly t ...
, and
engraver. He was briefly followed by his son Thomas Ivory.
Biography
James Ivory was a very prominent watchmaker and clockmaker in
Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
during the mid-to-late 18th century. Born in
Liberton, near Edinburgh in 1729, he worked as an
apprentice
Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, England (years unknown). There he married Jane Brown on 27 January 1761 at
St. Clement Danes
St Clement Danes is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London. It is situated outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand. Although the first church on the site was reputedly founded in the 9th century by the Danes, the current ...
Church in London.
[Person Page - 49543]
ThePeerage.com. In late 1762 he returned to Scotland to work in Dundee, where he lived until his death in 1793. On 17 February 1765 his first son
Sir James Ivory was born in Dundee. His wife Jane however died shortly after child birth. He went on to marry Margaret Cook on 16 September 1768. James Ivory had 3 sons and 2 daughters through his two marriages including his stepchildren. James's second son Thomas who was born on 5 April 1770,
[ followed after his father and became a ]watchmaker
A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their par ...
in 1795 in his own right after apprenticing under his father. He later gave up the trade in 1800 to work in publishing
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
until his death in 1825. Thomas in turn named his son James who later become known as Lord Ivory.
James Ivory rose to considerable eminence as a renowned clockmaker
A clockmaker is an artisan who makes and/or repairs clocks. Since almost all clocks are now factory-made, most modern clockmakers only repair clocks. Modern clockmakers may be employed by jewellers, antique shops, and places devoted strictly t ...
in Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
and throughout the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. He was entrusted with the making of the clock for the steeple o
St. Andrew's Parish Church
in the Cowgate area of Dundee in 1774 which is still in use today. He also served as a Dundee Town Councillor from 1768 until 1789. It was while acting in this capacity that his eldest son, mathematician Sir James Ivory, was appointed one of the teachers at the Dundee Academy.
After completing his apprenticeship in London, he opened a workshop there prior to moving to Dundee after marriage. His extremely rare early pieces thus have "London" engraved onto them rather than "Dundee". During his time as an active clockmaker and watchmaker between the mid 1750s and 1793, he made pocket watches, hall clocks, wall clocks, etc., many of which were of the verge fusee
Fusee or fusée may refer to:
* Fusee (horology), a component of a clock
* Flare, a pyrotechnic device sometimes called a Fusee
* Fusee, an old word for "flintlock
Flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint-striking lock (fi ...
escapement type of movement. Most of his pocket watches would have had "beetle and poker"-style hands, white enamel faces, and baluster-style pillars. Many of his pieces have been sold at auction for tens of thousands of dollars and are regarded as "the best that money could buy in London at the time" by auction houses even today.["the best that money could buy in London at the time" ''Craig Barefoot Clocks'' ]
Output
Based upon engraved
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...
serial numbers on his pocket watch movements from 1759 through 1768, he produced an estimated average of 20 watches a year during that time. Between 1769 and 1774 that number increased to an average of 78. By comparison, others were putting out hundreds, sometimes thousands, of movements per year from their workshops. This just goes to show that much of the work was in fact done by him personally rather than with the help of several apprentices like many other makers of the time. Being an engraver himself, he created most if not all of the work on his movements vs. sourcing finished parts from other suppliers as was common practice by others. Most of the components were ordered unfinished, which was every makers practice, then finished by the makers shop. By and large, most other makers whose signatures were engraved on their movements, may not even have touched it themselves at all and apprentices performed most of the remaining engraving, finishing, and assembly. Ivory's only known apprentice was his son, Thomas, at only the last few years of his life.
His works of craftsmanship are highly sought after by collectors, most especially his first works from the early 1760s. The extensively intricate engravings and ornamentation on his movements
Movement may refer to:
Common uses
* Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece
* Motion, commonly referred to as movement
Arts, entertainment, and media
Literature
* "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...
are very finely detailed and elegant in design. During the time of his career, most other watchmaker
A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their par ...
s were reducing the amount of aesthetic detailing put into the decorations and engravings on their movements. Most of this was due in part to the introduction of dust covers being used on pocket watch
A pocket watch (or pocketwatch) is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a watch, wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist.
They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wr ...
movements
Movement may refer to:
Common uses
* Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece
* Motion, commonly referred to as movement
Arts, entertainment, and media
Literature
* "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...
in the late 18th century. James himself is known to have began using dust covers on his movements in 1774. Pocket watch movements by most other makers which utilized dust covers and newer types of escapements (such as duplex escapements in the UK which had been patented in 1782 and were in wide use by 1790) simply lacked the same artistic adornment for which the movements of the prior 100 years had become so well known and sought after. The works of James Ivory carried on the grand style of this tradition up until the end of his life in 1793.
References
* Book: Old Scottish clockmakers from 1453 to 1850; by John Smith, page 205
* Book: The Universal British directory of trade, commerce, and manufacture, Volume 4; by Peter Barfoot, John Wilkes
* MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive is a website maintained by John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson and hosted by the University of St Andrews in Scotland. It contains detailed biographies on many historical and contemporary mathemati ...
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Ivory.html
* Leisure and Culture Dundee: http://www.leisureandculturedundee.com/library/ivory
* Notes and Records: The Royal Society journal of the history of science http://rsnr.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/56/2/187.full.pdf
* Friends of Dundee City Archives: http://www.fdca.org.uk/pdf%20files/LockitI.pdf
* Dundee City: http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/dundeecity/uploaded_publications/publication_1840.pdf
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivory, James
1729 births
1793 deaths
Scottish clockmakers
18th-century Scottish people
Scottish watchmakers (people)
Scottish engravers
Businesspeople from Dundee
Businesspeople from Edinburgh