A good English carriage clock, Clifford Lupton, London, circa 1870,

2½-inch enamel dial set within an engine-turned gilt surround signed C.Lupton, Cornhill, London, similarly signed five pillar two-train fusee and chain half-hour gong striking movement with maintaining power, ratchet tooth lever escapement and compensation balance , the richly gilded rectangular glazed case with ball finials above cruciform corner pillars and similar handle, the rear with a shuttered door secured with a secret lock; with a leather covered travelling case and a further wood case.

Clifford Lupton was a fine maker but little was known about him until Cedric Jagger discovered some papers while he was researching for his work on Paul Philip Barraud (see The Supplement, printed by The Antiquarian Horological Society, 1979).

Clifford Lupton was born circa 1825, the son of Thomas Lupton, details of his apprenticeship are not known but he appears to have joined the firm of Barraud in the 1850s at 41 Cornhill, London.  After a number of years he set up in business on his own account and from the Street Directories this was in either 1865 or 1866. The address given is St.Michael's Chambers, St.Michael's Alley, E.C. The building is actually 42 Cornhill, next door to Barraud, but perhaps the entrance to Clifford Lupton's workshop was in the adjoining St.Michael's Alley. Amongst the papers found by Cedric Jagger was a printed change of address letter from Clifford Lupton dated December 25th 1875 informing the recipients that he had moved to 3 Newman's Court, on the other side of Cornhill, between numbers 73 and 74.

Towards the end of his life Clifford Lupton's eysight was affected by cataracts and this fact is recorded in the Horological Journal for June 1904. `Few forms are better known in the City horological circles than that of the gentle and gentlemanly Mr.Clifford Lupton, whose vision has, I am truly sorry to learn, become so much impaired that he has resolved to undergo an operation for the removal of cataract'.

Clifford Lupton died on 26th January 1910 at the age of eighty-five and the Horological Journal for April 1910 records that the Clock and Watch Makers' Asylum benefited by a bequest of £300 from the estate of the late Mr. Clifford Lupton. The Watch and Clock Makers' Benevolent Institiution received £200 from the same estate.The Will indicates that Clifford Lupton, a bachelor,  lived at 34 Arkwright Road, Hampstead and that he had two brothers Thomas and Nevil Oliver, he is described in the Will as `Retired Chronometer Maker'.

 

The style of case used on this clock was much favoured by Dent see previous sales in these rooms 15th December 1994 lot 298, 12th December 2001 lot 78, 11th March 2002 lot 179.