Cromwell’s Watch revealed at Huntingdon Museum
The Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon has a remarkable artefact on display, a small pocket watch which is believed to have belonged to Oliver Cromwell. The watch is on display until 10 November, although the charitable trust that owns the museum has launched an appeal to raise the funds to purchase it and make Huntingdon its permanent home.
The watch is of a plain ‘Puritan’ style, in a silver case, and would have indicated the date as well as the time using a clockwork mechanism wound daily. It was made by the London watchmaker William Clay, who lived on the same street as Cromwell in 1647. Cromwell is believed to have given the watch as a gift to one of his officers, John Blackwell, whilst on campaign in 1650; Blackwell was Cromwell’s military treasurer and married to one of his cousins.
Blackwell worked for Cromwell during the Republic, then after the Restoration emigrated to America, where he was appointed by William Penn as Governor of Pennsylvania. He returned to England by 1694 and died in London in 1701. The watch was then passed down through his descendants until sold by the family in 2019 to the current owner.
Stuart Orme, Curator of the Cromwell Museum says “This is one of only two watches that can reasonably be provenanced to have belonged to Oliver Cromwell; the other is in the British Museum. It’s an astonishingly small and beautiful item, a fine example of the 1600s watchmaker’s art, and we hope to give it a permanent and appropriate home here in Huntingdon – and hope people feel able to support us in that.”
The museum, housed in Huntingdon’s oldest building, where Oliver Cromwell went to school, holds the best collection of objects relating to his life and times in the world. The collection comprises nearly 1,000 items, including portraits, clothing, miniatures, arms and armour, historical documents written by or about Cromwell and tries to tell the story of this controversial character 'warts and all'.
Cromwell’s watch is on display until 10 November during normal museum opening hours, Tuesday to Sunday, 10am – 4pm. Admission is free of charge, although donations are encouraged. For more details on this and the museum’s upcoming programmes visit: www.cromwellmuseum.org.
If you would like to donate to support the appeal to help enable the Museum to purchase Cromwell’s watch, you can do so online at: www.justgiving.com/campaign/cromwellwatch