Industrial Revolution: A period of rapid transformation of life in Europe in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries resulting from the introduction of steam-driven machinery, large factories, and a new working class.
Church clocks and public clocks: Thompson is drawing upon the work of the historian Jacques LeGoff, who argued about the significance of the transition between religious time and merchant time. Here Thompson is thinking about which institutions made time-keeping technology (i.e. clocks) publicly available and what that can tell us about changing ways of keeping time. For example, churches might have included clocks in order to remind parishioners that it was time to attend mass; public buildings (like the city hall or Parliament) might include clocks to remind citizens of curfews and work hours. Public clocks also assumed new importance when new technologies like railways needed standardized time keeping in order to work on a schedule.
Richard Palmer (b. ?-d. 1664): A resident of Wokingham, England in the Berkshire region. In 1664 Palmer bequeathed money to the town for a curfew bell, which was to be rung by the church everyday at 4:00 am and 8:00 pm during spring and summer months. The bell was awaken residents in preparation for a day of labor and reminded them when to go to sleep. The bell also help those in the countryside return to town in the dark..
The Potteries: A reference to Stoke-on-Trent, a region of England well known for its pottery production. The pottery industry was among the first to impose certain new forms of work discipline and time keeping requirements on workers.
pendulum: A weigh hung from a pivot, it was a mechanism used in early clocks (and still used today) to aid in timekeeping.
Grandfather clock: A style of clock, also known as a long case, first developed in the 1670s. The clock is usually enclosed in a long, freestanding case, usually with a pendulum. Many contemporary versions also chime on the hour and sometimes half hour.
pocket watch: A watch that can be carried in the pocket, often attached to the vest by a chain. Pocket watches were eventually replaced by wristwatches.
John Harrison (1693-1776): English clockmaker, carpenter, and inventor. Harrison was known for his great skill as a clockmaker and the accuracy and precision time-keeping of his clocks. Harrison is credited with creating the marine chronometer, which facilities long-distance sea travel.
John Tibbot: An English clock and watchmaker.
Carlisle: A town in North West England. The town became a center of textile production and industrial center during the industrial revolution.
William Pitt (1708-1778), also known as William Pitt the Elder. Whig politician and Prime Minister of Great Britain (twice) in the eighteenth century. He led Great Britain during the Seven Years’ War and also during many of the early developments that occurred as part of the large transition that historians now refer to as the industrial revolution.
M. Dorothy George (1878-1971): A British historian of everyday life in London in the eighteenth century.
Chancellor of the Exchequer: The name of the head of the Treasury in the British government. The Chancellor is responsible for all economic and fiscal matters, including the implementation and collection of taxes.
“This ‘ere ticker….” can be translated as. “This here ticker, cost me but a five-pound note when I bought it first, and I’ve popped it (pawned it) more than twenty times, and had more than forty pounds on it altogether…It’s a guardian angel to a fellow, is a good watch, when you’re hard up.” (70)
Radcliffe’s well-known account of the golden age of the Lancashire handloom weavers: A reference to William Radcliffe‘s 1828 essay, Origin of the New System of Manufacture, commonly called the Power Loom. Radcliffe (1761?-1842) was a weaver and inventor of several machines that expedited weaving and textile production.
Lib-Lab: A pact between the Liberal Party-Labor party in the United Kingdom; a Lib-Lab trade union leader would have been a union leader and politicians who came to power as a result of this coalition.