newton stewart – Antique and Vintage Mechanical Clocks

Confronted with the prospect of finding little else about William McLachlan I was curious about how ChatGPT might help.

Read on and you will find the results quite interesting.

_{Scottish tall case clock assembled and sold by William McLachlan of Newton Stewart} _{in or around 1848}

First of all, what is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a sophisticated computer program that is designed to understand natural language input from users and generate appropriate (my underline) responses. It uses a form of artificial intelligence called a deep neural network to analyze the input it receives and generate text that mimics human language. The program has been trained on a vast amount of data, including books, articles, and websites, so it can provide information on a wide range of topics. ChatGPT is an advanced technology that aims to provide human-like interactions in a digital space.

Regarding William McLachlan, here is what AI came back with:

“William McLachlan was a well-known Scottish clockmaker who lived and worked in Newton Stewart in the 1800s. He was born in 1803 and began his career as an apprentice to John Smith, a clockmaker in the nearby town of Wigtown.

In 1826, McLachlan moved to Newton Stewart, where he opened his own clockmaking shop. He quickly gained a reputation for producing high-quality clocks, and his business grew steadily over the years. McLachlan was known for his precision and attention to detail, and his clocks were particularly prized for their accuracy and reliability.

In addition to making clocks, McLachlan also produced barometers, thermometers, and other scientific instruments. He was particularly interested in developing new designs and technologies, and he was constantly experimenting with new materials and techniques.

McLachlan was a respected member of the Newton Stewart community, and he was involved in many local organizations and charities. He was also an active member of the local Masonic Lodge, and he served as its Master in 1861.

William McLachlan passed away in 1872 at the age of 69, but his legacy lived on through his work. His clocks and other instruments are highly prized by collectors and are considered some of the finest examples of Scottish clockmaking from the 19th century.”

_{Early morning light on the clock face}

I decided to ask the question in a slightly different way and this is what I found:

“William Maclachlan, a clockmaker from Newton Stewart, Scotland, was born in 1803. Here is some information that I was able to find about his life:

William Maclachlan was born in 1803 in Newton Stewart, a small town in the historical county of Wigtownshire in southwestern Scotland. He was the son of James Maclachlan and his wife Agnes. In 1823, William Maclachlan married Janet Hannah, and the couple had at least six children.

William Maclachlan worked as a clockmaker, and he is known to have produced a variety of clocks and timepieces during his career. Some of his clocks are still in existence today, and they are highly prized by collectors. For example, in 2017, a William Maclachlan longcase clock was sold at auction for over £20,000.

Maclachlan was also involved in local politics and community affairs. He served as a councilor on the Newton Stewart town council in the mid-19th century, and he was also involved in the establishment of the local savings bank. He was known for his philanthropy, and he supported various charitable causes throughout his life.

William Maclachlan died on March 6, 1876, at the age of 73. He is buried in Penninghame Kirkyard in Newton Stewart. His legacy as a skilled clockmaker and community leader lives on, and his clocks continue to be admired and sought after by collectors today.”

Back to the database search

In any event, armed with the “information” generated by AI I went back to a Scottish website called Scotlands People, a government-operated site to input new data.

As for information on deaths, I found a William McLachlan age 68 who died in 1871 in Rhu, Scotland which is 105 miles from Newton Stewart. For marriages I found nothing. However, records begin in 1855 which means he might have married earlier. Regarding the 1871 census, I found a William McLachlan who was age 67 in Renfrew County where Newton Stewart is located. On the whole, not definitive and really nothing to support the AI-generated data.

Is information from ChatGPT to be trusted?

Generating intelligible responses simply results in responses being “appropriate”. Note the spelling of McLachlan (Maclachlan) in the second query despite inputting the name correctly. Varying the words in each new query yields a different result because ChatGPT gathers information from a number of sources and constructs facts in an intelligible dialog based on the question asked.

In my view, ChatGPT can be a dangerous tool. It looks very impressive though sadly some people will not question the information generated. A plague of misinformation and propaganda will flow from AI, no doubt, and whether we like it or not robot reporters in the news media are already a thing. Therefore, generative AI can be transformative and yet potentially destructive.

For the researcher, AI might provide a starting point but it is too easy to go down the rabbit hole. I see some value in ChatGPT as a blog writer if I am searching for a generic opening paragraph or explaining how something works. For instance, I asked ChatGPT “How does a clock escapement work?” and the response, to me, is pretty impressive. Having said that, I am now aware of its limitations, so, a little caution is necessary going forward.

And since I have no way of verifying the AI information that leaves me at square one.

Scottish tall case clock – who was Wm. McLachlan of Newton Stewart?

For now, I am standing by the information in a previous post which you can access above.

Oh, the answer to “how does a clock escapement work?’.

“A clock escapement is a mechanism that converts the rotational motion of a clock’s gear train into a series of evenly spaced ticks that move the clock’s hands. The escapement consists of an escape wheel and a pallet fork.

Here is how the escapement works:

The power source, such as a weight or spring, applies force to the escape wheel, causing it to rotate.
The pallet fork, which is connected to the clock’s pendulum or balance wheel, engages with the escape wheel and stops it from rotating.
As the pendulum or balance wheel continues to swing back and forth, it moves the pallet fork, which then releases the escape wheel.
The escape wheel rotates a small amount before being stopped by the pallet fork again, and the cycle repeats.
Each time the escape wheel rotates, it moves the clock’s gear train forward by one tooth, which in turn moves the clock’s hands.

The ticking sound of a clock comes from the sound of the escape wheel teeth clicking against the pallet fork as the escapement mechanism advances the gear train one tooth at a time. The swinging motion of the pendulum or balance wheel helps regulate the rate at which the escapement mechanism ticks, keeping the clock running at a consistent pace.”

And there you have it.

Since winning this tall-case clock at auction in the spring of 2020 I have been intrigued about its origin. The information provided at the time was that it was made in Scotland or England in or around the mid-1800s but it could not have been made after 1852 as I will explain later.

Its features suggest the mid-1800s although there is nothing on the clock that tells me anything about the exact year it was made.

It is a classic Scottish design from the era. It is fairly nondescript and lacks the fine craftsmanship of other tall-case clocks of the period but it has attractive lines.

It has an English rack and snail bell strike movement. The removable bonnet is 23 inches at its widest point, the waist is 15 3/4 inches wide and the base is 20 inches wide. The bonnet has tapered columns on either side. The dial access door which covers the entire bonnet swings to the right. The solid wood access door on the waist measures 9 X 24. The weights are 10 and 11 pounds as one would expect.

To appreciate the size of the clock at almost 90 inches, it just about reaches our 8-foot ceiling.

On the dial is the name Wm McLachlan, and the town, Newton Stewart. William (Wm) McLachlan is a clockmaker. In his book, Clockmakers & Watchmakers of Scotland 1453 to 1900 David Whyte lists McLachlan, William, clock & watchmaker in Newton-Stewart, Wigtownshire as a business advertised for sale on 25 May 1852, with no reason why it was offered for sale and nothing more about his life.

Newton-Stewart is a former town in the historic county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland.

Perhaps rather than a clockmaker per se, McLachlan was an assembler/retailer and sourced cases, dials, and movements for his customers according to their wishes. Rather than build a clock from the ground up in his own shop, it was more cost-effective, even in the mid-1800s, to locate parts from various sources.

For example, the dial, hands, and movement were made in Birmingham, England and the case was very likely locally made by a joiner or wood craftsman. It is also quite possible that the painted dial originated in Birmingham as Birmingham was well-known at the time for its dial painters.

The clockmaker then assembled the parts, completed the final finishing, added finials, lock and knobs, weights, and pendulum, fine-tuned the movement, and placed his name and the location of the town on the dial.

What does the shepherd and sheep theme on the dial mean? The clock was presumably made for a well-to-do Scottish sheep farmer. I can only imagine the magnificent striking sound of this clock in a farmers’ home during the 1850s or so and the stories it could tell.

_{The tombstone of William McLachlan, (appears to be a more modern one erected by family?)}

More about McLachlan

William McLachlan was born in 1799 in Penninghame, Wigtownshire, Scotland, and presumably operated a clockmaking business or clock shop in Newton Stewart in his thirties and forties, and finally while in his early fifties sold his business in 1852.

I had assumed that he either retired in the Newton Stewart area or passed away prior to the sale date but I have recently discovered that he emigrated to the USA prior to 1861. His tombstone is located in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. He was 77 when he passed away on December 8th, 1876 and his wife Mary Crichton died in 1891 at age 84.

McLachlan’s wife was 7 years younger so let us assume they married when he was in his late twenties and she in her late teens or early twenties. Could he have been operating a business at that time? Did they have children? If so, why was the business not carried on by a son? And why the newer tombstone? Family, sons, daughters?

According to Scottish birth records McLachlan was living in Penninghame, Scotland in 1841. A William McLachlan from the same area is listed in the 1851 census but at 57 years old (an error perhaps?) and I cannot find a William McLachlan (who would have been 62) in the 1861 Scottish census. Did he and his wife leave for the USA sometime during the 10-year period between 1851 and 1861?

Whether he carried on clockmaking in the USA after his arrival is a mystery. If he did, there may be American sources I can explore further.

Many tall case clocks came over the ocean from Scotland and England but how this particular clock made its way to Canada is also a mystery.

Free records databases have their limitations and I am not willing to pay for a subscription for what might lead to a dead end but I will continue to do a little more digging and we’ll see what I can unearth.

Tag: newton stewart

William McLachlan – Scottish clockmaker – what ChatGPT taught me

Scottish tall case clock – who was Wm. McLachlan of Newton Stewart?

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