Joseph Knibb
Joseph Knibb (1640 - 1711) was an English clockmaker.
[edit] Biography
He was born as the fifth son of Thomas Knibb, yeoman of Claydon[disambiguation needed 
], in 1640. He was cousin to Samuel Knibb, clockmaker, to whom he was apprenticed in 1655. After serving his seven years he moved to Oxford in 1662, the year Samuel moved to London.
In Oxford he practised as a clockmaker, apparently working for Trinity College. The freemen of the city objected to his presence, demanding that he “suddenly shut his windows” because he was not a freeman of the city; so, it seems, the College officially appointed him gardener so that he was on the payroll and therefore untouchable. Later he was admitted to the freedom in 1668 on payment of a fine of £6.13s.4d. and a leather bucket.
By 1670 he had moved to London where he was made free of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. Initially he set up business at the Dyal, near Serjeants-Inn, in Fleet Street, subsequently moving to the House at the Dyal, in Suffolk Street. He was elected as a steward of the Clockmakers Company in August 1684 and assistant in July 1689. He retired from London in 1697 and went to live in Hanslope in Buckinghamshire, where he continued to make clocks until his death in 1711.
Joseph is the most illustrious of the Knibb family of clockmakers, which, in addition to Samuel, also included John (his younger brother who remained in Oxford where he produced some outstanding work), and Peter (another cousin who was apprenticed to Joseph).
Joseph Knibb is ranked amongst the finest of the early English clockmakers, and is renowned for both the quality of his work and his invention. The aesthetic beauty and simplicity of his work is unparalleled. Among his many inventions was the system of Roman striking, the tic-tac escapement, and probably the anchor escapement[citation needed]. His merits were recognised by his being appointed clockmaker to King Charles II of England, and afterwards to King James II.
A Blue Plaque to the Knibb family of clockmakers was unveiled at Claydon on 26 September 2010.
[edit] Literature
- Lee, R. A. (1964) The Knibb Family, Clockmakers
- Dawson, Percy G., Drover, C. B. & Parkes, D. W. (1982) Early English Clocks
- Cescinsky, Herbert (1938) Old English Master Clockmakers. [Woodbridge, Suffolk, England] : Antique Collectors' Club
- Loomes, Brian (1981) The Early Clockmakers of Great Britain
- Numerous articles and references in Antiquarian Horology, the quarterly journal of the Antiquarian Horological Society - http://www.ahsoc.demon.co.uk/
