The Vulliamy family were royal warrant holders for 4 generations spanning 5 monarchs.
Benjamin Gray (1676-1764) #15017 on the web family tree was a well-respected watchmaker who started working in St. Martins in the Fields and then moved to ‘Ye Sun Dyall’ in Thatched House Court, St.James’ Street West before finally settling in Pall Mall in 1752. He had been made Watchmaker-in-Ordinary to King George II by a warrant of 30th March 1742.
In 1746 his daughter Mary (1707-1783) #15016 married Justin Vulliamy (1712-1798) #15015 who went into business with his father-in-law. When Benjamin Gray died in 1764 the royal warrant passed to Justin Vulliamy who continued the business from Pall Mall. Justin’s son, Benjamin Vulliamy (1747-1811) #15013 took over the business with royal patronage and was paid £150 a year for doing so, still working from the premises in Pall Mall. He was much favoured and consulted by George III on mechanical subjects especially in connection with the Kew Observatory which was a hobby of the king. In about 1780 he was commissioned to build the Regulator Clock at Kew which served as the official London time until 1884 when Greenwich Royal Observatory assumed responsibility.
Following Benjamin’s death in 1811 (though some accounts say he died in 1820), his son Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (1780-1854) #15041, who had been in the business with his father for some time, continued to trade from Pall Mall. He was clockmaker to George IV, William IV and Queen Victoria. He supplied clocks to numerous government offices as well as to royal palaces. Great clockmakers though they were, afficionados level one criticism against the family. They were perhaps too fond of their own work, as they took out older movements of many fine old clocks and substituted their own newer movements in the misplaced belief that they were improving the clock.
It was thought that Vulliamy might build the clock for the new palace at Westminster, but that was not to be. Edmund Beckett Dennison took 7 years to design a clock to meet the accuracy stipulations laid down by the Astronomer Royal, Sir George Airy. It was constructed by John Dent and was the most accurate 4-faced clock in the world. It was installed in 1859 in what is now known as the Elizabeth Tower and its principal bell is of course Big Ben.
