A WILLIAM AND MARY WALNUT AND MARQUETRY LONGCASE CLOCK BY JOSEPH WINDMILLS, LONDON, LATE 17TH CENTURY The brass eight day twin train movement with four turned pillars, the anchor escapement striking on a bell, the ten and a half inch brass dial with a silvered chapter ring with black Roman hour and Arabic five-minute numerals and inscribed 'J Windmills London', the matted centre with a subsidiary seconds dial and a date aperture inside cherub head spandrels, the hood with a square, glazed door framed with a floral inlay and flanked by turned columns, the trunk with a circular glazed lenticle to the door, between panels inlaid with birds amongst scrolling foliage, with two weights and a pendulum.
Height 197 cm Catalogue Note Joseph Windmills an esteemed maker and was made free of the Clockmakers' Company in 1671 and became master in 1702. He was in partnership with his son Thomas and they were based in Tower Street, London.
Provenance:
From a collection of objects inherited by the Granddaughter of the late Sir Frances Whitmore, 1 st Baronet KCB CMG DSO TD JP (1872-1962) of Orsett Hall, Essex, with the majority of the objects coming from Apley Hall, the family's ancestral home in Shropshire, which was sold in 1867.
Sir Francis Whitmore was a distinguished military officer who eventually commanded the 10 th Royal Hussars, he was later made Lord Lieutenant of Essex between 1936 and 1958.
The Whitmore estate begins with Sir William Whitmore (1573-1648), a wealthy landowner, successful lawyer, and a member of both the Haberdashers' Company and of the Merchant Adventurers, sitting as MP for Bridgnorth in 1621, 1624, and 1625.
Lady Louisa Anna Whitmore the great-grandmother of Sir Frances Whitmore, was the daughter of Sir Charles Douglas 6 th Marquess of Queensbury, and Lady Caroline Montagu-Scott, the daughter of Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch, and Lady Elizabeth Montagu, the daughter of George 1 st Duke of Montagu.
The family is a direct descendent of the House of Stuarts through James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth the illegitimate son of Charles II.