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Lot Essay
Sir Nicholas Goodison noted: The Whitehurst firm made angle barometers of this model over an extended period, and many examples survive, but this is a particularly fine case. The cistern was originally open and survives intact, but at present there is an ordinary portable cistern in its place.
John Whitehurst (1713-1788) was born in Cheshire and later moved to Derby in 1736. He was the son of a clockmaker and followed the same trade, becoming an expert maker of scientific instruments, especially those concerned with measurement of all kinds. Along with his friend Matthew Boulton, Whitehurst was an active member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, whose members met once a month on the full moon to discuss science, philosophy and the dissemination of ideas. Whitehurst was a keen geologist and it was he who first told Boulton of the stone 'blue john' that Boulton would go on to use so extensively and successfully in his ormolu production (see lots 104-106). Whitehurst also made many of the movements for Boulton's ormolu clocks, including the magnificent geographical clock made in 1771-2 (N. Goodison, Matthew Boulton: Ormolu, London, 2002, p. 201, pl. 155 and frontispiece).
It was while researching Whitehurst at the Birmingham Assay Office that Nicholas Goodison came across drawers of uncatalogued Matthew Boulton papers, and so Whitehurst and barometers led to Matthew Boulton and his seminal volume on Boulton's ormolu production.