Larcum Kendall
| Larcum Kendall | |
|---|---|
| Born |
21 September 1719 Charlbury, Oxfordshire |
| Died | 22 November 1790 (aged 71) London |
| Occupation | Watchmaker |
Larcum Kendall (21 September 1719 in Charlbury, Oxfordshire – 22 November 1790 in London) was a British watchmaker. There is no relationship between his historic business and that of the Larcum Kendall watch brand based in Chiasso, Switzerland.
Kendall was born on 21 September 1719 in Charlbury. His father was a mercer and linen draper named Moses Kendall, and his mother was Ann Larcum from Chepping Wycombe; they married on 18 June 1718. The family were quakers. The cottage where they lived is thought to be on the site of Charlbury's post office on Market Street. He had a brother, Moses.
In 1735 Kendall was apprenticed to the London watchmaker John Jeffreys. He was living with his parents in St Clement Danes at the time. Jeffreys created a pocket watch for John Harrison, who later used ideas from pocket watches in his H4.
Kendall set up his own business in 1742, working with Thomas Mudge to make watches, working for the watch and clock maker George Graham. In 1765 he was one of six experts selected by the Board of Longitude to witness the operation of John Harrison's H4, which he was subsequently asked to duplicate.
The first model finished by Kendall was an accurate copy of John Harrison's H4, cost £450, and is known today as K1. It was engraved in 1769, and was presented to the Board of Longitude on 13 January 1770, at which point he was given a bonus of £50. The original H4, the first successful chronometer, had an astronomical price £400 in 1750, which was approximately 30% of the value of a ship.
James Cook and William Wales (astronomer) tested the clock on Cook's second South Seas journey (HMS Resolution, 1772–75) and were full of praise after initial skepticism. "Kendall's watch has exceeded the expectations of its most zealous advocate," Cook reported in 1775 to the admiralty. Cook also described it in his log as "our trusty friend the Watch" and "our never-failing guide the Watch". It was thus K1 which proved to a doubting scientific establishment that H4's success was no fluke. Three other clocks, constructed by John Arnold, had not withstood the loads of the same journey. Although constructed like a watch, the chronometer had a diameter of 13 centimetres (5.1 in) and weighed 1.45 kilograms (3.20 lb).
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