making a ‘clock’ in his workshop, one which kept remarkably good time.
1
Did he know anything of that? He said that he must have been referring to
the ‘grandmother’ clock Robert made, and that ‘it was made for UCL’, but he
had no idea what had happened to it. And so, I asked, ‘the clock that you
inherited from Robert—the one that stood on the stairs in St Helier—was a
different clock?’ Indeed, it was he said—a grandfather clock of course. But to
this day he had no idea why Robert gave it to him, and even when I read the
Will to him, he was surprised that Robert had regarded his ‘advice’ so highly.
But Dr Sims still had the clock, and though he couldn’t enlighten me at all as
to its provenance, I was fortunate enough to be allowed to take a photograph
of it in the dining room. But there remains some confusion here, because
UCL had no recollection of a ‘grandmother clock’, whilst as children, John
and Richard, recall being impressed with the clock Robert had hand made
from spare bits and pieces (Chap. 18), but they said that the clock in Dr Sims
possession bears no resemblance to the one Robert built. The whereabouts of
Robert’s hand-built clock therefore remains a mystery (Plate 19.5).
Standing and listening to the heartbeat of Robert’s clock, one was indeed
aware that ‘time passes …’ and the need to collect as many of Dr Sims’
memories as possible. Returning to the sitting room I finally asked about
Robert and Emily’s deaths. He remembered little of Emily, but recalled that
Robert was [naturally] lonely after she died. Emily’s death of course was
followed a few months later by Robert’s elder brother Bertie and he said
Robert realised that he had become the last of his line. At Christmas-time in
1975, Dr Sims and his wife Joyce invited Robert to lunch and he proved a
Plate 19.5 Robert Le Rossignol’s grandfather clock from the stairs at ‘St Helier’, still
keeping perfect time. Photograph by the author, courtesy of Dr Raymond Sims
19 February 2012
509
1
Did he know anything of that? He said that he must have been referring to
the ‘grandmother’ clock Robert made, and that ‘it was made for UCL’, but he
had no idea what had happened to it. And so, I asked, ‘the clock that you
inherited from Robert—the one that stood on the stairs in St Helier—was a
different clock?’ Indeed, it was he said—a grandfather clock of course. But to
this day he had no idea why Robert gave it to him, and even when I read the
Will to him, he was surprised that Robert had regarded his ‘advice’ so highly.
But Dr Sims still had the clock, and though he couldn’t enlighten me at all as
to its provenance, I was fortunate enough to be allowed to take a photograph
of it in the dining room. But there remains some confusion here, because
UCL had no recollection of a ‘grandmother clock’, whilst as children, John
and Richard, recall being impressed with the clock Robert had hand made
from spare bits and pieces (Chap. 18), but they said that the clock in Dr Sims
possession bears no resemblance to the one Robert built. The whereabouts of
Robert’s hand-built clock therefore remains a mystery (Plate 19.5).
Standing and listening to the heartbeat of Robert’s clock, one was indeed
aware that ‘time passes …’ and the need to collect as many of Dr Sims’
memories as possible. Returning to the sitting room I finally asked about
Robert and Emily’s deaths. He remembered little of Emily, but recalled that
Robert was [naturally] lonely after she died. Emily’s death of course was
followed a few months later by Robert’s elder brother Bertie and he said
Robert realised that he had become the last of his line. At Christmas-time in
1975, Dr Sims and his wife Joyce invited Robert to lunch and he proved a
Plate 19.5 Robert Le Rossignol’s grandfather clock from the stairs at ‘St Helier’, still
keeping perfect time. Photograph by the author, courtesy of Dr Raymond Sims
19 February 2012
509