Thomas Mudge (horologist)

Thomas Mudge (1715 – 14 November 1794 London) was an English horologist who invented the lever escapement, the greatest single improvement ever applied to pocket watches.

Thomas Mudge was the second son of Zachariah Mudge, headmaster and clergyman, and his wife, Mary Fox. He was born in Exeter, but when he was young, the family moved to Bideford, where his father became headmaster of the grammar school. Thomas attended the same school and, when 14 or 15, was sent to London to be apprenticed to George Graham, the eminent clock and watch maker who had trained under Thomas Tompion. Graham’s business was situated in Water Lane, Fleet Street. When Mudge qualified as a watchmaker in 1738 he began to be employed by a number of important London retailers. Whilst making a most complicated equation watch for the eminent John Ellicott FRS, Mudge was discovered to be the actual maker of the watch and was subsequently directly commissioned to supply watches for Ferdinand VI of Spain. He is known to have made at least five watches for Ferdinand, including a watch that repeated the minutes as well as the quarters and hours.

In 1748 Mudge set himself up in business at 151 Fleet Street, and began to advertise for work as soon as his old master, George Graham, died in 1751. He rapidly acquired a reputation as one of England’s outstanding watchmakers, and is now rightly considered one of the greatest and most influential watch and clock makers of the period. In 1753 he married Abigail Hopkins of Oxford, with whom he had two sons.

Around 1755, if not earlier, Mudge invented the detached lever escapement, which he first applied to a clock, but which, in watches, can be considered the greatest single improvement ever applied to them, and which remains a feature in almost every pocket timekeeper made up to and including the present day.

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