This is the story of how initials etched on a Victorian gold watch, found in the pocket of a second-hand coat bought in Texas, were deciphered thanks to the North Mymms History Project’s archive.
The following article, written by Jessie Bitti, a horological expert working for Mr Jones Watches in London. It is reproduced here with the permission of the Antiquarian Horological Society (AHS). See acknowledgements at the foot of this article for more details.
Remembering S. C. T. : unravelling the history of an early twentieth-century wristwatch
By Jessie Bitti
This article follows research into the history of an early twentieth-century wristwatch found in the pocket of a second-hand coat and subsequently offered for sale on eBay. Linking a watch of this age to its original buyer is challenging, however on this occasion a considerable amount of information has been uncovered about this watch, how it came to be purchased, and what it meant to the owner.
I work as part of the retail team at Mr Jones Watches, and throughout my time with the company I have dedicated a portion of my time to learning more about the history of watches and the people who wore them.
As part of this, I spent time with company founder Crispin Jones reviewing the watches that form the company’s collection. As director of the company, Crispin has a keen understanding of our place within the much larger history of horological production in the UK.
He has been a member of the AHS (Antiquarian Horological Society) for more than 10 years, and is an active collector of English wristwatches, with particular focus on those made before the second World War.
Generally, being able to link a watch to a specific individual is extremely challenging, as the survival of relevant records is inconsistent. These watches may have been sold through a chain of distributors or local jewellers, each of whom maintained their own, often ephemeral, records. Over decades, these watches then might have passed through multiple generations, auctioneers, and private owners, and each transfer further distanced the object from its buyer unless documentation travelled with it.
Where identification is possible is when the watch is some combination of the following: an engraved presentation watch, signed by a high-end brand with surviving sales ledgers or archival departments, or a particularly unique custom order whose characteristics would stand out in manufacturer records. These features are rarities in themselves, and for the majority of our company’s collection it would have been impossible to find a surviving link to the original buyer.
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| The watch, signed ‘DENT / 34. COCKSPUR
ST / LONDON’ Photo by Crispin Jones |
The watch has an engraving and in addition came with a fob commemorating a dated event (on which see below). The engraving, ‘A.C.C / S.C.T / 11. OCT. 1918.’, was a curious feature in itself, as it isn’t a typical dedication but two initials and a date kept privately on the inner cuvette.
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| The engraving ‘A.C.C. / S.C.T. / 11. OCT. 1918 Photo by Crispin Jones |
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| The hallmarks, the sponsor’s mark ‘RN’, and serial number 33812 Photos by Crispin Jones |
“When I got home this watch was actually in the pocket of that jacket! I took it down to my local watch shop to verify it was authentic and to get an estimate on how much it would be to fix it up. The price was a bit out of budget so I had decided to put it up for auction.”The watch was listed as an ‘Antique 18K Gold Dent Watchmaker to the King & Queen Pocket Watch Parts/Repair’.
Identification
The initial query was on the maker. Watches from this period were often not signed by the manufacturer but by the retailer, which can complicate identification. However, the hallmarks are London, 1919 and the sponsor’s mark is ‘RN’ for Robert North. Nicole, Nielsen & Co was one of the few English firms, along with Rotherhams, Williamson, and J. W. Benson, who produced wristwatches in this early period.
From 1917 onwards, the Nicole, Nielsen & Co name was discontinued and the company renamed as North and Sons after Robert North who was the majority shareholder from 1888 onwards and ran the company until 1933 when it went into receivership. The movement is in the distinctive English style and along with the hallmark can be identified as made by Nicole, Nielsen & Co.
The first foothold in the search was in linking up the serial number 33812 with the available stock records for Dent at the Guildhall Library. The Guildhall Library holds the archive of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, which includes stock books for E. Dent and Company Limited from 1842 up until 1928.
Assuming the watch was purchased in the years surrounding 1918, we requested the stock book for 1916–1922. Surviving sales ledgers are a valuable resource for historians, however, these records were designed for internal inventory and not necessarily for posterity.
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| The page in the stock book for ‘Gold Watches’ sold by Dent in 1919. The London Archives: E. Dent and Company Limited (Ref CLC/B/073). The row reads: sale number 28696, serial 33812. Supplied by North & Sons (‘North’) on 17/1/19 18ct case with a lever escapement (‘lever’), compensated balance (‘CB’), pendant wound (‘PW’), open faced (‘OF’) wristwatch (‘wrist’). The cost price was £18 and the selling price was £36, sold on June 26 1919 to an ‘A. C. Clauson’. |
Albert Charles Clauson
A Google search for ‘A. C. Clauson’ provided immediate results for Albert Charles Clauson, a man of significant position and, fortunately, recorded history. Clauson was a British barrister and judge, admitted to Lincoln’s Inn in 1891, appointed King’s Counsel in 1910, and held the office of Bencher in Lincoln’s Inn in 1914.
He was counsel for the Royal College of Physicians between 1923 and 1926, after which he held the office of Judge of the High Court, Chancery Division, until the year 1938 in which he held the office of Lord Justice of Appeal until 1942.
Upon the outbreak of WW1, Clauson worked for the Admiralty for free, for which he was appointed C.B.E. in 1920 and granted the title ‘Baron Clauson of Hawkshead in the County of Hertford.’
We sought out photographs, ideally of him wearing a watch of matching description, that might confirm ownership. While photographs were readily available for colleagues of Clauson appointed to the High Court in the same year, Clauson appears to have been camera-shy and chasing up photographs was surprisingly challenging. Several online resources turned up photographs and publications of his colleagues, for example Mr Fergus Dunlop Morton who was sworn in as a Justice of The High Court of Justice at the same time as A. C. Clauson. Despite his public presence, leads following his positions in Lincoln’s Inn and the Royal College of Physicians ran cold.
With the aid and insight of Peter Miller, historian and archivist with the North Mymms History Project, we found an image of Clauson in the June 1978 edition of Hertfordshire Countryside magazine.
.jpeg "Opening of the North Mymms flower show, with Lady and Lord (Albert) Charles Clauson. From the Herts Advertiser, 29 July 1927") |
| Opening of the North Mymms flower show,
with Lady and Lord (Albert) Charles Clauson.
From the Herts Advertiser, 29 July 1927 |
They donated their archives to the Hertfordshire County Council, but unfortunately the (presumably very large) collection of original negatives was disposed of at some point.
.jpeg "Lord (Albert) Charles Clauson cutting the tape and declaring open the new Golf Club at Brookmans Park. From the Herts Advertiser, 1 August 1930") |
| Lord (Albert) Charles Clauso Declaring open the new Golf Club at Brookmans Park From the Herts Advertiser, 1 August 1930 |
In two of the six photographs we can see Clauson wearing a watch on an outstretched arm.
Sadly the rather grainy quality of the newspaper scan precludes definitely identifying it as the watch we have. However, it certainly looks a good fit: The watch is small, with a round case and a thin strap, which correlates with the 32mm case and 12mm strap width of the watch we have.
Stuart Campbell Taylor
With confirmation that Clauson was our buyer, we looked to identify to whom or what S.C.T. referred. A search of ‘Albert Charles Clauson’ alongside ’S.C.T.’ and ‘1918’ led us to another feature on the North Mymms History Project website titled ‘Restoration of the belfry at St Mary’s, North Mymms,’
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| The dedication beside the North Mymms
church bell tower Photo by Mike Allen |
The second bell was hung in this Tower on July 11th 1920 in memory of STUART CAMPBELL TAYLOR. D.S.O. Brig.Gen Commanding the 93rd Brigade Late Lieu Col.Commanding the XVth Service Battalion West Yorkshire Regt. and formerly Captain Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Born 2nd June 1872, died in the service of his country in France 11th October 1918.Stuart Campbell Taylor was a career soldier. Commissioned into the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in 1892, he served in campaigns across the colonies in India, South Africa, Malta, Crete and Nigeria before retiring from the Army in 1911. He would rejoin on the outbreak of the War and later took command of ‘The Leeds Pals’, the 15th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment. It was on 11 October 1918 that Taylor was struck by an enemy shell while on a tour of inspection of his brigade. He died of his wounds ten days later, and is buried in the La Kreule Military Cemetery, France.
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| Stuart Campbell Taylor’s gravestone Photo by David Owens |
I bequeath to Kate Clauson and Albert Clauson both of Hawkshead House Hatfield Ten pounds each with which I wish them to purchase some small token of my deep affection and regard.(The last will and testament of Stuart Campbell Taylor was drawn up in 1915; England and Wales, National Index of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1957)
Though we were able to uncover a fair amount of their personal histories, we found no explanation of how these two men were connected. Though both were accomplished and recognised for their war efforts – Taylor was awarded the DSO (Distinguished Service Order) in 1917 for his leadership during the Battle of Arras, and Clauson was awarded CBE in 1920 for his work for the Admiralty – they served in very different capacities.
Taylor served in campaigns across the world and commanded soldiers on the Western Front, while Clauson’s work was administrative and contained to a London office. We turned to their private lives and upbringing, considering a childhood connection maintained throughout adulthood. Yet again, they were raised apart in Hertfordshire and Oxford under rather different circumstances – though neither was particularly affluent in childhood, there was an additional divide in social class as Clauson had more influence through his family’s professional legal background.
Clauson attended Merchant Taylor’s School and Oxford University under a scholarship, while Taylor was educated at the Oxford Dragon Preparatory School before moving to Bedford Grammar School and joining the army upon graduation. There was simply no obvious connection – professional, personal, geographical or otherwise.
Investigation into possible family connections yielded no evidence of kinship. Clauson’s brother, Sir John Eugene Clauson, one of the men memorialised alongside Taylor in the North Mymms church bells, was also a British Army officer whose service also required travel, leading him to Malta and Egypt as it had Taylor. However, there is no immediately obvious overlap in their service histories. As Clauson’s wife, Kate, was mentioned alongside Clauson in Taylor’s will, we considered a connection through her, or one of Taylor’s two sisters, Leila and May. Again, nothing tangible emerged from our research and it is unlikely there are records to be found at all – the private lives of women in this period were rarely meaningfully recorded or maintained.
Though we cannot confirm the origin of their relationship, we can observe its nature. The bequest itself is striking: a request to purchase ‘a token of my deep affection and regard’ uses language that implies an historical intimacy. It is somewhat curious to note that the watch which Clauson purchased cost almost double what Taylor had bequeathed to them both. If we assume that this watch was worn in the photographs in the North Mymms newspaper, we can also assume that Clauson actively carried this token a decade after purchase. The relationship is observable, at least, as one that warranted remembrance.
After 1946
We turned next to the history of the watch following Clauson’s death in 1946. Neither Clauson’s will nor the catalogue from the sale of the contents of Hawkshead House which followed Lady Clauson’s death (also in 1946) identify a watch that corresponds with this one; indeed in the inventory of 836 lots there is only a single watch: ‘658 A George III gold verge watch in outer repousse case’. (Catalogue of The Contents of Hawkshead House North Mymms, Herts (Auctioneers Rogers, Chapman & Thomas, 1946, By Order of the Executor of the late Lord Clauson), p. 39.)
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| The fob - image Crispin Jones |
Through the archives of the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre we obtained a copy of the programme. It was useful to us since it provided a list of subscribers to Lord Lansdowne’s Rally Appeal Fund naming Brigadier P. A. Clauson: a British Army officer, a Major in the Royal Engineers, and nephew to Albert Charles Clauson – suggesting that Clauson has given the watch to his nephew sometime before his death.
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| Title page of the programme of the
Wiltshire Conservative Rally Photo supplied by the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre |
Whitepages, a database of publicly available information for US citizens, listed his previous address as in Spring, Texas, with an identical zip code to the original seller of the watch. It can be reasonably assumed that A. G. Clauson had inherited his father’s watch upon his passing, perhaps unknowingly, and donated it alongside some of his father’s belongings.
Conclusions
Our research is a unique case-study in which the original owner of a watch over a century old was not only able to be discovered, but the original purpose of the purchase as well. Our story, in summary: the watch was bought in June 1919 by Albert Charles Clauson, in part with the inherited effects of his fallen friend, Stuart Campbell Taylor, to memorialise his death on 11 October 1918. Taylor had requested in his will for Clauson and his wife to purchase a token to memorialise his ‘deep affection and regard’, and Clauson answered that request on 26 June 1919.
From the newspaper photography taken in 1927 and 1930, we can assume that Clauson continued to wear the watch in the decades following. The watch was later inherited by Clauson’s nephew, Brigadier P. A. Clauson, who attended the Bowood Conservative Rally in 1961 and attached a commemorative fob. The watch was passed on, perhaps accidentally, in the pocket of his coat, to P. A. Clauson’s son Charles Anthony Gerrard Clauson, who moved to the US and donated the coat in Spring, Texas no later than 2022 when the watch was listed for sale.
This story which otherwise would have been lost to time is owed in great part to good fortune: a prominent buyer, surviving archival records, and a watch which had been well maintained all contributed to the accessibility of information. However, it should also demonstrate the richness of archival records and the information that can be drawn from the various public, private, and occasionally mundane resources.
Acknowledgements
This research would not have been possible without the aid and insight of archivists, researchers, historians, and librarians who offered their unique expertise to this story. We would like to thank Peter Miller from the North Mymms History Project, whose work on the history of North Mymms led us to the dedicated church bells which connected A.C.C. to S.C.T., and who also connected us with Hertfordshire County Council archives to access the newspaper prints of Lord and Lady Clauson. Peter Miller also provided a copy of the catalogue of the auction at Hawkshead House.
We would also like to mention the assistance of David Owen from the Leeds Pals Volunteer Researchers, who provided key information on Stuart Campbell Taylor’s personal and military history and his photograph of Taylor’s gravestone in Hazebrouck, France.
Finally, we would like to mention the librarians and archivists at the Guildhall Library, the London Archives, the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, and the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, for sharing the many records and documents that helped to reveal this story piece by piece.
Editor's note:
The author, Jessie Bitti, is a member of the retail team at the flagship store for Mr Jones Watches, a contemporary producer of design-led watches printed and assembled in London. She studied History at Exeter University and is developing an interest in horology, and was given the opportunity to research the watches in MJW’s vintage collection.
This piece first appeared in AHS, the Antiquarian Horological Society magazine. Editor Peter de Clercq has kindly given the North Mymms History Society permission to reproduce the article here. A pdf of the original piece can be downloaded here. The images of the watch are copyright of Crispin Jones, Director of Mr Jones Watches, and published here with his permission.
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