The Chamberlain Clock is an Edwardian,

cast-iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

in the Jewellery Quarter of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, England. It was erected in 1903 to mark

Joseph Chamberlain Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually served as a leading imperialist in coalition with the C ...

tour of South Africa The Tour of South Africa was a stage cycling race in South Africa that was only held once, in 2011. It was part of UCI Africa Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by th ...

between 26 December 1902 and 25 February 1903, after the end of the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the So ...

. The clock was unveiled during Chamberlain's lifetime, in January 1904 by Mary Crowninshield Endicott, Joseph Chamberlain's third wife. Standing at the junction of Vyse and Frederick Streets with Warstone Lane, it is now a local landmark and symbol of the Quarter. Chamberlain had been a resident on Frederick Street and had also helped jewellers through his campaign work to abolish Plate Duties – a tax affecting jewellery tradesmen of the time. The timepiece was originally powered by a clockwork winding handle. It was later adapted to electricity but fell into disrepair and lost its chime. It was fully restored in 1989. On the 22 August 2020, the Chamberlain Clock was being removed for restoration work by Smith of Derby. It was restored to its site on 20 March 2021.

References

{{Coord, 52.487009, -1.912578, region:GB-BIR_type:landmark, display=title Memorials to Joseph Chamberlain Clock towers in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures in Birmingham, West Midlands Cast-iron architecture in the United Kingdom Towers completed in 1903 20th-century architecture in the United Kingdom Individual clocks in England