Michael Pearson (1936–2017) was an acknowledged expert on Kent clocks and clock-making. He was born in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

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and educated at Dartford Grammar School. He served

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

with the Intelligence Corps, following which he returned to the private sector, working in sales, marketing and advertising. During this period he became a keen collector of antiques (an established family business), in particular clocks and early oak furniture. His family had been a notable family antique and antiquarian book dealing business in Covent Garden since 1860, and then in Pall Mall until 1929. Pearson resurrected the old family business, moving it to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

, where he specialised in antique furniture and clocks. His first horological book, '' The Beauty of Clocks'', was published in 1979, and he was a respected authority on the history of clocks and clockmaking in

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. His book '' Kent Clocks and Clockmakers'' was published in 1997 by Derbyshire-based Mayfield Books. He was engaged in collaboration with Bill Bruce (the well-known clock dealer in Lewes), writing a book on Sussex clocks & Clockmakers. He died in March 2017 following a short illness.

References

1936 births 2017 deaths English historians English clockmakers People from Dartford People educated at Dartford Grammar School {{UK-historian-stub