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George Daniels - Helping younger craftsmen to exhibit (59/85)

1,757 views · Published 12 July 2017 · 2:16 · Indexed 14 November 2026

Channel: Web of Stories - Life Stories of Remarkable People · 2017 · Science & Technology

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English watch-maker George Daniels (1926-2011) was most famous for creating the co-axial escarpment and could make a complete watch by hand.  In his lifetime, he received many awards, including the rarely-given Gold Medal of the Clockmakers' Company of London. [Listener: Roger Smith; date recorded: 2003]

TRANSCRIPT: Well, we had a new chairman to take over the National Benevolent Society and he felt they should have spent their money in different ways. And so my money was cut off at source, and I was no longer able to raise enough money to run the apprentice scheme. With what little I had I took on two more apprentices. I don't mean I took them on; I put them out to other... I would find a suitable master for the apprentice. Since then, I have looked covetously at the funds in the Clockmakers' Museum and Education Trust and they've got, I suppose, about £30,000 sculling around in their trust, not doing anything. I gave them some of it and I've been unable to get any out of them. But we've now been left another £100,000 by somebody, so I'm already making forays into that to see if I can get some for my students again.

And one of the big problems, I realised, was that students who made things, and we had students who could make things, didn't have anywhere to show their work and without a shop window, no one would be aware of what was going on. And so when the Clockmakers' Company collection was revamped and modernised and made more interesting to the public, I organised a special showcase for artist craftsmen to exhibit their goods in, and we will have a turn round at very regular intervals changing the contents from work made from one maker to another.

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