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Although not everyone in Scotland knows the name of James Ritchie, the vast majority of us would have seen some of his handiwork… indeed, many of us see it on a daily basis. For James Ritchie & Son is responsible for the creation, and upkeep, of many of Scotland’s highest profile timepieces. Examples of the company’s work include the clock on the Balmoral Hotel and the time ball on the Nelson Monument.
Founded by James Ritchie in 1809, in Edinburgh’s Leith Street, the eponymous company boasts an illustrious heritage. Early clients included Sir Walter Scott and Madame Tussaud, although it is for their public, not private, clocks that they’re particularly noted.
It was the original Ritchie’s son, Frederick James (1825 – 1906), a friend of Alexander Graham Bell, who was the most innovative force in the business. He specialised in large-scale public clocks and he not only made the mechanical portion of the floral cuckoo clock in Princes Street Gardens – the first of its kind in the world to be put on public display – but also gave the city the clocks of the Royal Scottish Museum and St Giles’ Cathedral.
Ritchie’s mechanical expertise was not only reflected by clock making, however, and his obituary in the Scotsman recognises that he ‘combined the work of designer-draughtsman and practical mechanic, and during the war invented many contrivances for the Admiralty’. Sadly, the exact nature of these ‘contrivances’ is no longer known, but better-known examples of his ingenious mind are still in evidence.......
In this month's issue Alan Cochrane writes about new penalties for wildlife crimes. Do you think it would be fair to ban keepers for life for certain wildlife crimes?
