George Graham, FRS (7 July 1673, maybe 1675 – 16 November 1751) was an English

clockmaker A clockmaker is an artisan who makes and/or repairs clocks. Since almost all clocks are now factory-made, most modern clockmakers only repair clocks. Modern clockmakers may be employed by jewellers, antique shops, and places devoted strictly to ...

, inventor, and

geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...

, and a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. He was born in

Kirklinton Kirklinton is a village in the City of Carlisle, Carlisle district, in the English county of Cumbria. The population of the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Kirklinton Middle, taken at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 38 ...

, Cumberland. A Friend (Quaker) like his mentor

Thomas Tompion Thomas Tompion, FRS (1639–1713) was an English clockmaker, watchmaker and mechanician who is still regarded to this day as the "Father of English Clockmaking". Tompion's work includes some of the most historic and important clocks and watc ...

, Graham left Cumberland in 1688 for London to work with Tompion. He later married Tompion's niece, Elizabeth Tompion.

Career

Graham was partner to the influential English clockmaker

during the last few years of Tompion's life. Graham is credited with inventing several design improvements to the

pendulum clock A pendulum clock is a clock that uses a pendulum, a swinging weight, as its timekeeping element. The advantage of a pendulum for timekeeping is that it is a harmonic oscillator: It swings back and forth in a precise time interval dependent on i ...

, inventing the mercury

pendulum A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward th ...

and also the

orrery An orrery is a mechanical model of the Solar System that illustrates or predicts the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons, usually according to the heliocentric model. It may also represent the relative sizes of these bodies ...

. He was made Master of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers in 1722. Between 1730 and 1738, Graham had as an apprentice Thomas Mudge, who went on to be an eminent watchmaker in his own right, and invented the lever escapement, an important development for pocket watches.Harold Bagust, "The Greater Genius?", 2006, Ian Allan Publishing, (page 15) He was widely acquainted with practical astronomy, invented many valuable astronomical instruments, and improved others. Graham made for

Edmond Halley Edmond (or Edmund) Halley (; – ) was an English astronomer, mathematician and physicist. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, succeeding John Flamsteed in 1720. From an observatory he constructed on Saint Helena in 1676–77, H ...

the great

mural quadrant A mural instrument is an angle measuring instrument mounted on or built into a wall. For astronomical purposes, these walls were oriented so they lie precisely on the meridian. A mural instrument that measured angles from 0 to 90 degrees was call ...

at Greenwich Observatory, and also the fine

transit instrument In astronomy, a transit instrument is a small telescope with extremely precisely graduated mount used for the precise observation of star positions. They were previously widely used in astronomical observatories and naval observatories to measu ...

and the zenith sector used by James Bradley in his discoveries. He supplied the French Academy with the apparatus used for the measurement of a degree of the meridian, and constructed the most complete planetarium known at that time, in which the motions of the celestial bodies were demonstrated with great accuracy. This was made in cabinet form, at the desire of

Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery KT PC FRS (28 July 1674 – 28 August 1731) was an English nobleman, statesman and patron of the sciences. Early life The second son of Roger Boyle, 2nd Earl of Orrery, and his wife Lady Mary Sackville (16 ...

. Graham was introduced to

John Harrison John Harrison ( – 24 March 1776) was a self-educated English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea. Harrison's solution revo ...

on the latter's arrival in London, and became a longtime advisor and supporter of Harrison's work on a marine chronometer. Graham and Harrison spent many hours discussing clockwork when first introduced, and Graham gave Harrison an unsecured and interest-free loan to continue his work at this first meeting. Graham later presented Harrison to the

Board of Longitude The Commissioners for the Discovery of the Longitude at Sea, or more popularly Board of Longitude, was a British government body formed in 1714 to administer a scheme of prizes intended to encourage innovators to solve the problem of finding lon ...

, speaking on his behalf and securing additional funding from the Board.

Deadbeat escapement

The

deadbeat escapement In horology, the anchor escapement is a type of escapement used in pendulum clocks. The escapement is a mechanism in a mechanical clock that maintains the swing of the pendulum by giving it a small push each swing, and allows the clock's wheels ...

is often erroneously credited to George Graham who introduced it around 1715 in his precision regulator clocks. However it was actually invented around 1675 by astronomer

Richard Towneley Richard Towneley (10 October 1629 – 22 January 1707) was an English mathematician, natural philosopher and astronomer, resident at Towneley Hall, near Burnley in Lancashire. His uncle was the antiquarian and mathematician Christopher Town ...

, and first used by Graham's mentor

in a clock built for Sir Jonas Moore, and in the two precision regulators he made for the new Greenwich Observatory in 1676, mentioned in correspondence between Astronomer Royal

John Flamsteed John Flamsteed (19 August 1646 – 31 December 1719) was an English astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal. His main achievements were the preparation of a 3,000-star catalogue, ''Catalogus Britannicus'', and a star atlas called '' Atlas C ...

and Towneley

Achievements

His major contribution to geophysics was the discovery of the diurnal variation of the terrestrial magnetic field in 1722/23. He was also one of the first to notice long-term secular change in the direction of the compass needle. The compass needles he produced as an instrument-maker were used by many contemporary magneticians. Around 1730, George loaned approximately £200 to

so that he could start work on his marine timekeeper known later as H1. George was commonly known in the trade as 'Honest George Graham'.

Examples of his work

* A 28-day duration longcase regulator with deadbeat escapement c. 174
Moyse's Hall Museum

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton ...

Death

He died at his home in Fleet Street, London and was buried in the same tomb as his friend and mentor

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

In popular media

Actor

Peter Vaughan Peter Vaughan (born Peter Ewart Ohm; 4 April 1923 – 6 December 2016) was an English character actor known for many supporting roles in British film and television productions. He also acted extensively on the stage. He is perhaps best known ...

was cast as George Graham in the TV series, ''

Longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east– west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek let ...

'' in 2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, George 1673 births 1751 deaths People from Cumberland English geophysicists English inventors English Quakers English watchmakers (people) Fellows of the Royal Society Burials at Westminster Abbey English clockmakers British scientific instrument makers