Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & LibraryObjects
1772-1774
Benjamin Willard (1743-1803)
USA: Massachusetts, Roxbury
Wood, brass, paint, paper; glass
overall: 81"h x 19-1/4"w x 10-1/2"d
Loaned by the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts
GL2004.4498a-j
Tall case clock. a: Front corners of bonnet each have a column with brass fittings and bases. b-c: weights d: movement, brass face with Roman numerals and numbers. There is a second hand above the hour and minute hands. In the center of the second clock is "No. 228." At the sides of the hands and below, it reads, "Benjan. H. Willard / Roxbury / fecit." At top is a painted ship that "sails" against a painted backdrop of additional sails. e: pendulum f: body, plaque on the front reads, "This clock was owned by / General Joseph Warren / when he was killed at the battle of / Bunker Hill - - - June 17th 1775 / and was purchased by / Joseph Warren Lodge F. & A.M. / Aug. 29th 1873." Around rim enclosing the paper ship is an inscription: "Ut Hora Sic Vita Transit" g-h: winders i-j: keys
Born in Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1741, Joseph Warren attended Harvard University and eventually became a physician. During the 1760s, Warren led radical activities building to the Revolution. Elected major general of the Massachusetts forces in June 1775, he was killed three days later in the Battle of Bunker Hill. This clock is thought to have belonged to the Revolutionary War hero. Members of Joseph Warren Lodge purchased it in 1873. Although no documents support the Warren history of ownership, lodge members cherished the clock and displayed it with pride. Joseph Warren Lodge presented the clock to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in 1933, its 200th anniversary year. This clock bears a somber Latin motto engraved along the top edge of the maritime scene on the face. It says, “Ut Hora Sic Vita Transit,” or “Life Flies as the Hour Passes.” For further information, see Newell, Aimee, et.al., "Curiosities of the Craft: Treasures from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts Collection", 2013, p. 220-221.