The Memorial Clock is a

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure that 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 building ...

in the market place of

Willenhall Willenhall is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, Walsall district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England, with a population taken at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census of 49,587. It is ...

, West Midlands, England. It was erected in 1892, in memory of a local doctor.

History

Joseph Tonks (1855–1891), in whose memory the structure was created, was born in Willenhall on 5 May 1855 to Silas (21 December 1827-1888) and Lucy Tonks (née Pritchard; 12 April 1829-1896) and graduated in medicine at

Queen's College, Birmingham Queen's College was a medical school in central Birmingham, England, and a predecessor college of the University of Birmingham. It was founded by surgeon William Sands Cox in 1825 as The Birmingham Medical School, a residential college for med ...

in 1879, becoming a member of the

Royal College of Surgeons of England The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) is an independent professional body and registered charity that promotes and advances standards of surgery, surgical care for patients, and regulates surgery and dentistry in England and Wa ...

(MRCSE). In 1889 he became a Licentiate of the

Apothecaries' Hall of Ireland The Apothecaries' Hall of Ireland is one of only two extant successors of a medieval Guilds of the City of Dublin, Dublin guild. Apothecaries in Dublin were first organized as members of the 1446 Guild of Barbers, with St Mary Magdelene as the ...

(LAH). From 1881 he had a practice in Willenhall. Dedicated to improving the quality of life of poor people in the town, he was known as "the poor man's doctor"."Willenhall Through The Ages: Into the 20th Century"
Wolverhampton History and Heritage Website. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
Willenhall History Society Website. Retrieved 17 February 2021. He married Clara Banks (January 4 1864-February 27 1940) on 30 October 1888. In August 1888 during a balloon ascent, an event of the annual show of the Willenhall Horticultural Society, Tonks was injured when the pilot lost control and the balloon hit nearby chimneys. Never fully recovering from his injuries, his health deteriorated and he died on 2 April 1891 aged 35, leaving his wife Clara and two young children, Reginald Ernest Tonks and Herbert Joe Tonks. A memorial committee was formed in Willenhall, and it was decided to erect a

drinking fountain A drinking fountain, also called a water fountain or water bubbler, is a fountain designed to provide drinking water. It consists of a basin with either continuously running water or a tap. The drinker bends down to the stream of water and s ...

in memory of Joseph Tonks. Generous donations were received from friendly societies and local people. The final design for the memorial, with a drinking fountain, a drinking trough for cattle and dogs, and four clock faces, was by Messrs Boddis, sculptors and stonemasons of Birmingham. It was made in Hollington and

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate originally obtained from the Middle Jurassic aged Great Oolite Group of the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its h ...

, and the clock was supplied by Smith of Derby. The unveiling ceremony, attended by local organisations, took place on 10 May 1892. The memorial was unveiled by the surgeon

Lawson Tait Lawson Tait, born Robert Lawson Tait (1 May 1845 – 13 June 1899) was a Scottish pioneer in pelvic and abdominal surgery who developed new techniques and procedures. He emphasized asepsis and introduced and advocated for surgical techniques tha ...

Description

The clock tower is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

; it is described in the listing text as being in Jacobean style. It is in three stages divided by

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

s. There are drinking fountains, with semicircular bowls, on the north and south side, and a trough on the east side. The inscription, on the east side, reads: "Erected by the Friendly Societies of Willenhall and his fellow townsmen May 10th 1892, in memory of Joseph Tonks MRCSE LAH whose generous and unsparing devotion to the cause of the alleviation of human suffering has been deemed worthy of this public record."

References

{{Reflist Monuments and memorials in the West Midlands (county) Willenhall Buildings and structures in Walsall Clock towers in the United Kingdom 1892 establishments in England Grade II listed buildings in the West Midlands (county) Towers completed in 1892