Richard Glynne Richard Glynne is a well-known English map surveyor and scientific instrument maker. He trained in 1696 in the Clockmaker’s Company as an apprentice under Henry Wynne. In 1705, he received his Freedom from the Company and married Anne Lea at All Hallows, London Wall; together, they later re-issued her father Philip Lea’s map of London, Westminster and Southwark. In 1712, Glynne set up shop with his mother-in-law ‘at the sign of Atlas and Hercules’ in Cheapside, where he remained until 1718, when he moved to Fleet Street – the premiere address for instrument as well as clockmakers. In 1725, he was appointed Steward of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. An advertisement from the following year, 1726, states his focus was on the creation of ‘all sorts of Mathematical Instruments either for Land or Sea, according to the newest improvements’. An impressive range of Glynne’s instruments have survived. These include sectors, drawing instruments, sundials, armillary spheres and armillary planetaries.[1] Antiquarian Jonathan Carter describes these all as being ‘clean’ and ‘uncluttered’ in appearance, and ‘finely and precisely engraved’.[2] Around 1710, Glynne created a beautiful silver inclining dial, which is coming soon to Clocktime.[3] The whole instrument revolves to align its magnetic compass to local variation. When horizontal, the dial is designed for 60° latitude and can be adjusted through to 40°. The vertical part of the gnomon indicates the sun’s direction on the inner engraved scale. The head of its dial ring is stylishly engraved with the maker’s signature: Rich:Glynne on the left side of the latitude scale position, and Londini Fecit on the right side. The outer edge features an engraved chapter ring with Roman numerals for the hours from VI am to XII noon, continuing round to VI pm. The engraving is precisely slanted to follow the angle of the moving shadow.[4] Remarkably, the original travel case made for the dial, a sharkskin covered wooden box, has survived. About ten years later, around 1720, Glynne made a large mechanical equinoctial ring-dial for the 1st Earl of Ilay, (later) 3rd Duke of Argyll. Thus, it is now known as the Earl of Ilay Mechanical Equinoctial Ring-Dial, and it is also coming soon to Clocktime.[5] As with all sundials, a sunny day is required to use this instrument. First, it must be set by its compass to align its orientation with the earth's North-South axis, and then levelled. Next, the sight arm is moved until the sunlight falls on the circle to indicate the solar time, which is read from the dial at the top of the instrument.[6] The Earl of Ilay Mechanical Ring-Dial was part of the John C. Taylor Collection for roughly 20 years. We are happy to announce that it has since found a new home at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, and will imminently be installed as part of the museum's permanent Science and Technology display. Glynne and his wife were successful in their business ventures, allowing him to retire in 1730 when he was only 49. His stock was auctioned from the shop of the optician and instrument maker Edward Scarlett. End Notes [1] Warner 1990. [2] Carter 2022, 228. [3] Carter 2021, 182–183, Catalogue No. 35; Taylor et al. 2019, 16, Exhibit No. 2:4. [4] Turner 1987, 97. [5] Carter 2022, 226-231, Catalogue No. 33. [6] For the Earl of Ilay dial, Glynne replicated the design of the dial that John Rowley made for Prince George of Denmark (the consort of Queen Anne I) sometime before 1708 (Garnier and Carter 2015, 36). References Carter, J. 2021. The John C Taylor Collection: Part I (Selling Exhibition Catalogue, Carter Marsh & Co.). Winchester: Carter Marsh & Co. Carter, J. 2022. The John C Taylor Collection: Part III (Selling Exhibition Catalogue, Carter Marsh & Co). Winchester: Carter Marsh & Co. Garnier, R. and J. Carter. 2015. The Golden Age of English Horology: Masterpieces from the Tom Scott Collection. Winchester: The Square Press. Taylor, J. C. and K. Leith (with contributions by T. Phillipson). 2019. The Luxury of Time: Clocks from 1550–1750. Isle of Man: Fromanteel Ltd. Turner, A. 1987. Early Scientific Instruments: Europe 1400–1800. London: Sotheby's Pubications. Warner, D. J. 1990. ‘What is a scientific instrument, when did it become one, and why?’ in The British Journal for the History of Science 23:1, 83–93, especially No. 15.
