2010/19

Collecting 20th Century Rural Cultures, My Secret Tips for Hen Keeping

Smiths English Clocks Ltd. (Manufacturer)

This children’s alarm clock, with a manual clock and alarm winding mechanism, was made by Smiths English Clocks Ltd. in the early 1950s. The face shows a farmyard scene with a timber-framed thatched cottage in the background and chickens in the foreground. The pecking hen on the left rocks backwards and forwards with the ticking of the clock.

1 alarm clock: plastic, metal

MERL 'Handwritten accession' form (Museum of English Rural Life) – 'Description: Pictorial alarm clock by Smiths Electric Clocks Ltd. Farmyard scene on face, with pecking hen that rocks back and forth when the clock is going. Steel body, rectangular with curved corners, cream, manual winding mechanisms for clock & alarm at back. ‘Smith Alarm’ and ‘Made in Great Britain’ on face. // Dimensions: 10.2 x 11 x 5.2 cm // Associated information: Purchased as part of the Collecting 20thc Rural Culture project. // References:', Collecting 20thc Rural Culture blog [Friday, 14 May 2010] – ‘Farmyard alarm clock, 1950s // This is a child's pictorial alarm clock, one of a range made by Smiths English Clocks Ltd in the early 1950s. Smiths had been making clocks for the domestic market since 1931 and stopped in 1979. The trade name on this one Smith Alarm was in use from 1952–5. It was made at the factory in Wishaw near Glasgow. // The cock crowing at the start of a new day is an appropriate visual theme for an alarm clock and there is a typically rustic scene complete with timber-framed thatched cottage in the background. It's a playful, relaxing image to nod you off to sleep and for good measure the pecking hen on the left rocks backwards and forwards in synchrony with the tricking.’

Wishaw [North Lanarkshire [unitary authority]]

1952 - 1955

Plastic, Metal