Charles Frodsham, London

Vaudrey Mercer, The Frodshams, Antiquarian Horological Society, 1981, p. 261.

The cuvette of this watch was almost certainly engraved for Edward Charles Grenfell (1870–1941), 1st Baron St Just. The year engraved, 1904, is the same year Grenfell became a partner in the London banking house J. S. Morgan & Co., the British arm of J. P. Morgan & Co. of New York. At that time, the London office acted as the European correspondent of the New York partnership, handling sterling transactions, government loans, and bond issues for clients throughout Europe. Given the Morgans’ well-known patronage of Charles Frodsham, it is tempting to speculate that Grenfell may have been presented with this watch upon his appointment as a partner. If not, and the watch was purchased independently, it would nevertheless have been a politically astute and symbolically appropriate choice for a leading figure in the Morgan firm.

Charles Frodsham’s association with the Morgan family began with Junius Spencer Morgan, who in 1854 became a partner in the English branch of the banking house George Peabody & Co., later renamed J. S. Morgan & Co. The purchase of fine clocks and watches for the Morgan family was continued by John Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913), who in 1883 presented a complicated watch to his personal valet, George William, on the occasion of his marriage. The Morgans’ purchases from Charles Frodsham & Co. continued until 1934, with watches given as gifts to partners in the Morgan firm or to members of the family.

Edward Charles Grenfell was born in London and educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. He began his banking career at Brown, Shipley & Co. before joining J. S. Morgan & Co. Following his appointment as partner in 1904, the firm was later renamed Morgan, Grenfell & Co. in 1910. Grenfell was a director of the Bank of England and of the White Star Line, and played a key role in facilitating British and Allied purchases of military hardware from the United States during the First World War, transactions that passed through the Morgan firm in New York. He served as a Conservative MP from 1922 until 1935, when he was elevated to the peerage as Baron St Just of Penwith. In 1913 he married Florence Emily Henderson and had one son, Peter George (b. 1922), who succeeded as 2nd Baron St Just following his father’s death in 1941.

Frodsham were particularly celebrated for their pocket chronometers, and the present watch is an especially fine example. The ébauche was supplied to Frodshams by Joseph Preston & Sons of Prescot, Lancashire, who specialised in the production of chronometers. Beyond the quality and finesse of its movement, the watch features a case by the distinguished maker Frederick Thoms and a dial attributed to the London enamel specialist Willis, noted for their creamy white dials of unmatched quality.