Object Description
Victorian Desk Clock / Barometer Set
Gothic style carved oak case standing on a raised, moulded plinth surmounted by two brass flambeau finials and central architectural pediment.
The clock to the left with cast bezel, silvered dial, Roman numerals, original steel hands, engraved to centre and signed ‘J.H.Steward, 54 Cornhill 406 and 66 Strand & 456 West Strand, London.
The aneroid barometer with bevelled glass with brass cast bezel and engraved silvered dial. Five weather indications, the scale marked from 26 to 31 inches of mercury and central setting knob for the pointer.
Centrally mounted spiral mercury thermometer with silvered, engraved scale for Centigrade and Fahrenheit. C.1890
‘Barometer makers and retailers’ by Edwin Banfield lists James Henry Steward as working from various addresses in London including 406 the Stand, St Paul’s Churchyard, 54, Cornhill, etc. He was a prolific maker of all types of barometers during the second half of the nineteenth century. Maker of the celebrated Lord Bury Telescope and was commissioned by Admiral Fitzroy to make his famous Fitroy barometer which were used in all the railway termini and principle hotels in London. C.1890