ACT OF PARLIAMENT CLOCK

plain, hanging, weight-driven wall clock with a large wooden, painted or lacquered dial. The term Act of Parliament clock was applied incorrectly to these timepieces, which were thought to have been displayed by innkeepers to save their customers from paying a five-shilling duty on clocks in Great Britain, introduced in 1797 by the English prime minister William Pitt the Younger. (Many clocks were disposed of by their owners, and the effect on the clock-making industry was so disastrous that the act was repealed the following year.) Actually, these clocks were first displayed in inns during the mid-18th century (before the duty was imposed), probably for the convenience of passengers when coaches began to run on a definite timetable, and are more correctly called tavern, or coaching inn, clocks.