Person:James Iddison (1)

No father is mentioned in the parish-register entry for James Iddison’s baptism but we know his father was a clockmaker called William Morland because his name and occupation are given on the certificate for James’s marriage in 1840. William Morland, a clockmaker, had married Ann Iddison at Kirkby Malzeard in April 1813 only a month after James was baptised and these were surely James’s father and mother.

We have no information about James Iddison between his baptism in 1813 and his marriage in 1840. He may have been with his parents, wherever they were, but he was resident in Kirkby Malzeard at the time of the wedding and, given he was then a clockmaker, he could have served his time with his father or his uncle Richard in the village of his birth. He is listed as a clockmaker at Kirkby Malzeard in 1871 and he is surely the ‘J. Iddison’ of Iddison Cottage, Kirkby Malzeard, listed from c1840 to c1850, for there are no other candidates in the local records.

James is said to have been the successor to Richard Morland. We have seen that Richard had moved to Boroughbridge by 1851 but his son William was at Kirkby Malzeard in 1851 and 1861 so it is perhaps more likely he would have taken over the business from his father. Although it is not impossible for James to have taken over from Richard it seems most unlikely for that would have meant there would be two clockmaking businesses in the comparatively small village of Kirkby Malzeard. William himself went to Boroughbridge some time before 1871, no doubt to take over from his father again, and perhaps it was then that James took over, from his cousin William not from his uncle Richard.

James’s marriage in 1840 was to Sarah Spence and it was celebrated at Ripon Cathedral. Their son Thomas William was born the following year. Sarah died in 1849 and James married Ann Swires at Temple Chapel, Ripon, in 1851. They had two daughters and two sons, Alfred born in 1855 and Swires born in 1857. All three of James’s sons were destined to be clockmakers: Thomas was a travelling clock repairer who was briefly in business at Bedale; Alfred was in business at Kirkby Malzeard from at least 1880 to 1901; and Swires was listed as a watch and clockmaker in the 1881 census for Kirkby Malzeard although he later became a house painter. Curiously Swires’ wife was also listed as a watch and clockmaker in 1881.

James was still in business at Kirkby Malzeard at the time of the 1881 census but in 1891, when he was seventy-eight years of age, he was living with his clockmaker son at Bedale. He was not said to be retired and was probably helping in the business. He died at Ripon the following year.

Bedale Museum has the copper plate used to print James’s watch papers. The papers bore ‘IDDISON CLOCK and WATCHMAKER KIRKBY MALZEARD’ but they also had the single word ‘MASHAM’ which confirms that like Richard Morland he worked in both these places.

It is unusual to have personal information about clockmakers because what information we have is usually gleaned from national and local official records. We do have a piece of personal information about James Iddison. Some years ago the clock restorer Howard Walker, now of Brompton on Swale near Richmond but formerly of Masham, met an old lady who remembered James when he was at Kirkby Malzeard. She said he was ‘cantankerous’.