This gem of a book tells the story of one life but illuminates in the process a swathe of history, writes Nicolette Jones
Written by the curator of timekeeping at the Greenwich Observatory, it relates the life of a woman who sold time to the clockmakers of London.Between 1836 and 1940, Ruth Belville, and before her her father, John, and later her widowed mother, Maria, carried around the city a pocket watch certified weekly at Greenwich Observatory as correct to within a 10th of a second.
Clients checked their timepieces against the Belvilles’ silver “chronometer”, which was called Arnold after its maker, and paid for the privilege.
The book under review is Ruth Belville: The Greenwich Time Lady.