HARRISON - John, London.
1693: born
1776: died.
In Barrow until 1735, except for a visit to London in 1728.
The most remarkable man in the history of horology. Son of a carpenter; self-educated;
made long case clock in 1715 (now in Guildhall Museum)
First used in 1725 gridiron compensation pendulum and invented grasshopper escapement before 1728.
Produced his No. 1 marine timepiece in 1735, No. 2 in 1739, No. 3 in 1751and No. 4 in 1759. The last was tried in 1761 on a voyage to Jamaica and lost only five seconds. On the return, after five months, the error was under two minutes.
This performance gained for him, eventually, the Government
award of £ 20,000.
Nos. 1, 3 and 4 are at the Royal Observatory Greenwich,
No. 2 in the Science Museum South Kensington,
No. 5 in the Guildhall Museum.
Long case clocks in Victoria and Albert Museum South Kensington,
John Harrison's Number 4 chronometer,
which eventually won him the board of
Longitude's award