This beautiful and tiny watch is one of only two in existence that are believed to have belonged to Oliver Cromwell. The family who he gave it to then owned it for over 350 years. We are now hoping to secure it for future generations to become part of the Cromwell Museum's collections.
This tiny mid-17th century pocket watch is believed to have belonged to Oliver Cromwell. It is a type of timepiece known as a Puritan Watch due to its restrained design. The watch was made by William Clay, whose signature can be seen on the mechanism of the watch, who was known for making pocket watches and clocks in London from the 1630s. Clay established a workshop on King Street in Westminster in 1646; the following year Cromwell moved his family to a house just a few doors down from Clay's workshop, from which it is thought he purchased this watch.
Cromwell is believed to have taken this watch with him during his controversial campaign in Ireland in 1649. One of the officers who accompanied him was John Blackwell, an officer in Cromwell’s famous ‘Ironside’ cavalry regiment and his deputy treasurer of war. According to Blackwell family tradition Cromwell presented this watch as a gift to their ancestor in 1650.
Blackwell was born in 1624, the eldest son of a wealthy London puritan merchant. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642, he became an officer in the London Trained Bands, the regiments raised for the defence of the capital against Royalist forces. A year later Blackwell transferred into the city's cavalry regiment, then in 1645 joined Cromwell’s regiment of horse before the battle of Naseby.
Blackwell was given the post of ‘Deputy Treasurer at War’, a financial officer in the administration of the New Modelled Army, and became part of Cromwell’s family in 1647, when he married one of Oliver’s cousins, Elizabeth Smithsby.
Blackwell worked in the treasury during Cromwell’s Protectorate and was an MP in the Protectorate Parliaments. In 1658 he was part of the funeral cortege for Cromwell’s state funeral at Westminster Abbey; the following spring he was a member of the faction that overthrew Richard Cromwell in a military coup.
At the Restoration in 1660 Blackwell was permanently excluded from office, then left for America in 1684 with his second wife, Frances, daughter of John Lambert. The Blackwells settled in Massachusetts Bay where John was offered the governorship of Pennsylvania by William Penn. He resigned the post and returned to England by 1694.
John Blackwell died at Bethnal Green in 1701; the watch passed to one of his sons who lived in Ireland. Over subsequent generations the family’s name evolved to become Bagwell. The family owned the watch until 2019 when it was sold at auction to the current owner.
The Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon, a small independent charity, has one of the best collections in the world of objects relating to this period. As a small institution that relies on public donations, we have no funds for purchasing objects for our collection, but would love to be able to secure this important item for future generations to enjoy.
We are hoping to secure the majority of the funding from grants, trusts and foundations - but need to raise at least £9,500 match funding ourselves. Can you help us achieve that?
Any unused funds from this appeal will be used to help display this artefact in a secue case, and create a purchase fund for the Museum, enabling us to help safeguard more historic treasures for future generations and public display.
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