Mobirise.comClockwork Mouse c 1818, very small, runs around and twitches it's whiskers!
A gentleman called John Bowes inherited a small fortune in 1820 (coal mines, land etc) and through good management turned it into a large fortune. By all accounts he was a good chap who was well regarded by his workers, however he was a bastard, his father married his mother the day before he died to legitimise his son but he was always regarded as 2nd class by his English peers.
John found Paris more welcoming, in particular an actress called Josephine who he married (she is pictured). We don't know if she was any good as an actress but she was a good painter (landscapes mostly) and she and her new husband started to collect artworks and anything else which took their fancy.
They decided to build a museum to house their collection close to his stately home in Yorkshire, it is called the Bowes Museum and there was enough there to occupy us for most of today.
As you can see the museum building is quite substantial, so substantial that it was not completed until after both John and Josephine had died which seems a shame. It houses some good paintings, porcelain and clothes. The collection has been added to since including a large section on Vivian Westwood's fashions and, in complete contrast, Babbage's Difference Engine No 1 which is on loan from the Science Museum.
What we found most interesting was a collection of mechanical toys. The mouse at the top of the page is tiny yet apparently works but the real star of the museum is a silver swan.
At the moment it is being serviced but the work is being carried out in the museum and visitors are able to watch the clockmakers scratching their heads as they try to put it all back together.
Have a look at this link to see it in operation (use the back arrow to return here).
The assembled swan
Two puzzled clockmakers
At one stage there were five clockmakers "helping".
Part of the Vivian Westwood display, I am not sure what Josephine would have thought of her.
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