Longcase Clock - Origin of The Term "grandfather Clock"

Origin of The Term "grandfather Clock"

The Oxford English Dictionary states that the 1876 song, My Grandfather's Clock, is responsible for the common name "grandfather clock" being applied to the longcase clock.

Henry Zecher describes the story of the naming of the Grandfather Clock (2005): "I will note that this may well be a fable that's popularity has made it become folklore turned "fact." Even this lore is related to the history of grandfather clocks, and an important part of the grandfather clock's history. He tells us that Grandfather Clocks were originally known as Long Case Clocks. In 1875 Henry Clay Work wrote the song “My Grandfather’s Clock.” This renaming caught on and today we refer to these clocks as Grandfather Clocks. Originally these floor clocks did not keep accurate time. The particular clock, in the song, was found in North Yorkshire, England at the George Hotel, where it still stands today. It was known to be exceptional. It kept accurate time. As the story goes the hotel owners were a pair of bachelors, the Jenkins brothers. One of the brothers died and the clock curiously began losing time. Attempts to repair the clock failed, and the story culminates when at the remaining brother’s death, the clock ceased running altogether. Works was an abolitionist who helped thousands of slaves flee to freedom in the north. He was sentenced and imprisoned in 1841 and released in 1845, penniless. He began writing songs. Works was a guest at The George Hotel in 1875, hence the song “My Grandfather’s Clock.”