Wingham Memorial Town Hall Clock

The Wingham Memorial Town Hall was built to commemorate local combatants who enlisted for service in WW1. It was officially opened in April 1924. A fund-raising committee of local ladies was successful in obtaining sufficient money for a high-quality electric timepiece for the clock tower.¹

The clock was made and installed by Mr Arthur Louis Franklin. Born in England, Franklin had been employed in the physics department of the University of Birmingham before moving to Australia in 1912.²

In 1913 he joined the staff of Prouds in Sydney³ where he would undoubtedly have encountered the work of Thomas John Purday, an eminent maker of clocks and scientific instruments.⁴ Franklin meanwhile was building a personal reputation as a repairer and maker of high-quality scientific instruments and opened his own business in 1919.⁵

Between the years of 1922 to 1948 Franklin’s company produced turret clocks, the first of which was installed in Ashfield Town Hall in 1922.⁶

Franklin again visited Wingham in May 1924 when he gave a demonstration of glassblowing at the Wingham Show. This drew a large audience with many people purchasing souvenirs.⁷

Franklin’s business remained in family ownership until it ceased trading in 1999,⁸ while his unusual clock mechanism has since been replaced and is now on display in the Wingham Museum.

Author: Penny Teerman