The Halifax Town Clock: the clock the prince never saw ticking
The Halifax Town Clock on Citadel Hill started on 20 October 1803 and has been wound twice a week ever since. Prince Edward planned it, but the work only began after he left Halifax in 1800.
William “Gunner” White was the caretaker of the Halifax Town Clock, and he raised his family right inside it. The clock had kept time since 1803, and in December 1917, it would be up to him to keep it going.
Who built the Halifax Town Clock?
The clock was older than any of them. Prince Edward, a man known for being obsessed with punctuality, planned it as a parting gift to the town, but the work only began after he left Halifax in 1800. Captain William Fenwick of the Royal Engineers designed it. Governor John Wentworth had it moved to the slope facing Brunswick Street, so the townspeople could see it too.
The works came from the Vulliamy family of London, clockmakers to the King, and three bells were cast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. The clock started on 20 October 1803, and it has been wound twice a week ever since. In 1836, Joseph Howe even wrote a poem about it, called “To the Town Clock”.
Who lived inside the Town Clock?
Somebody had to live with it. Gunner White was a Royal Artillery veteran who became a Halifax police officer. His son Joseph, born in 1897, grew up in the tower under its bells. He became a fighter ace in the First World War, and he died in 1925.
What happened to the Town Clock in the Halifax Explosion?
So what happens to a clock when the city around it is blown apart?
It stops. On 6 December 1917, the Halifax Explosion stopped the Town Clock, and Gunner White set it going again.
The building around the clock wore out over the years, and between 1960 and 1962 it was rebuilt. The clockworks inside are still the original ones.
The prince never saw it running. The man who lived inside it set it going again when the city was blown apart, and the same works still keep time for the city below.
Quick facts
- Where
- Citadel Hill, Halifax, facing Brunswick Street
- Started
- 20 October 1803
- Planned by
- Prince Edward
- Designed by
- Captain William Fenwick, Royal Engineers
- Works
- Vulliamy family of London
- Bells
- Three, from the Whitechapel Bell Foundry
- Rebuilt
- 1960 to 1962, with the original clockworks
