by David Rooney

Using a pocket watch named 'Arnold’, the Belville family provided Greenwich Time to paying customers across London. Ruth, the last of the time-sellers, finally retired in her 80s, in 1939, bringing to a close a remarkable episode in the history of timekeeping and of London life. David Rooney seeks to show that the Belvilles operated a service that, while simple, was in many ways better than the ‘official’ electric time signals from Greenwich.

This book will turn the story of the Greenwich Time Service on its head, showing for the first time the strengths of Ruth Belville and her family, and the weaknesses of the more familiar telegraphic services. Commercial propaganda, dirty tricks and failing technologies come together in this story of a Greenwich Time Lady with a will to succeed in Edwardian London.

• Hardback
• 192 pages
• ISBN: 9780948065972