George Booth & Sons

Reference is made to George Booth & son in Britten's Old Clocks and WAtches and their Makers, 8th edition by Cecil Clutton and the late C A Ilbert, revised and enlarged by Cecil Clutton, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1977, p. 348, where the firm is noted as active 1820-1846.

This however, is not quite correct and the later Robert Murdoch Lawrance drew together the following details about George Booth and his son.

According to Lawrence's short published pieces (which have been cut out and bound, and are available in the Local History section of the Central Library, aberdeen), George Booth was a private in the Gilcomston Pikemen, one of the four Volunteer Corps formed in Aberdeen in 1803, and was appointed Deacon of the Hammermen Trade in 1815 and again in 1816. In 1822 he subscribed to John Leslie's Interesting Anecdotes and is listed as a watchmaker. The Aberdeen Directory of 1824 reveals that he was in business as a watchmaker and jeweller at 34 Union Street, and that he had a house in Dee Street. In 1828 the firm's name was George Booth & Son, the partner being Booth's son Alexander. they were at 32 Union Street in 1835, at 36 Union Street in 1841, and at Broad Street in 1850. Lawrence knew of no further references and assumed that business had ceased shortly thereafter.

In retrospect, the firm appears as one of the last of the more interesting of the Aberdeen clockmaking concerns. Around the turn of the century, John Law, John Ewan and John Gartly had been active. Slightly earlier, Hugh Gordon (c. 1746 - 90) and Charles Lunan (c. 1760 - 1816) had produced fine clocks in Aberdeeen, preceded by John Lumsden (c. 1735 - 57). Other 18th century clockmakers working in Aberdeen included George Angus (c. 1760), James Lumsden (c. 1770) and John Law (c. 1790).