How Grandfather Clocks Got Their Name

In England's North Yorkshire region, there was a town called Piercebridge sometime in the late 1700's. In this town was a hotel, known as the George Hotel, which was a popular place for travelers to stop and rest their horses while the traveler's went inside for refreshments. This establishment was run by the Jenkins brothers.

As the story goes, there was a long-case clock in this hotel which reportedly kept remarkably good time. That is until one of the two Jenkins brothers passed away. Suddenly, it is said, an odd thing occurred - the old floor clock began losing time. It started to lose as much as 15 minutes per day. Then, it lost even more time each day until it was losing well over an hour each and every day.

No clocksmith could repair the long-case clock, and eventually they all gave up.
The clock stayed put in this hotel. Having been remarkable in its ability to keep time, now it was remarkable in its lack of accuracy and the strange timing coinciding with the brother's death. It was the source of much discussion, as the travelers came and went year after year.

As the story goes, another, stranger event took place. The second brother passed away at the age of 90 and the clock stopped running completely. Even when wound completely, the clock workings refused to move and the hands would not turn.

When the hotel acquired a new owner, the old clock was left standing in a corner of the lobby, its hands reportedly stuck showing the moment that the last Jenkins brother died.
In 1875, Henry Work, an American songwriter, was on holiday in England and found himself at the George Hotel. The story of the clock was still alive. It sparked Henry's creativity and imagination. So Henry wrote a song and published it. His sheet music eventually sold over a million copies.
 Here are the lyrics to the song:
 
"My grandfather's clock was too tall for the shelf
So it stood ninety years on the floor
It was taller by half than the old man himself
But it weighed not a pennyweight more

It was bought on the morn on the day that he was born
It was always his treasure and pride
But it stopped, short, never to go again
When the old man died

Ninety years without slumbering
Tic toc tic toc
His life's seconds numbering
Tic toc tic toc
It stopped, short, never to go again
When the old man died.
In watching its pendulum swing to and fro
Many hours he had spent when a boy
And through childhood and manhood, the clock seemed to know
And to share both his grief and his joy

For it struck 24 when he entered at the door
With a blooming and beautiful bride,
But it stopped, short, never to go again
When the old man died

CHORUS

My grandfather said that of those he could hire
Not a servant so faithful he'd found,
For it kept perfect time and it had one desire
At the close of each day to be wound

At it kept to its place, not a frown upon its face
At its hands never hung by its side
But it stopped, short, never to go again
When the old man died

CHORUS

It rang an alarm in the still of the night,
An alarm that for years had been dumb
And we knew that his spirit was pluming for flight
That his hour of departure had come

Still the clock kept the time
With a soft and muffled chime
As we silently stood by his side
But it stopped, short, never to go again
When the old man died"
Where are we today?

Prior to this song, these clocks had a variety of names - long case clocks, tall case clocks, floor clocks, and pendulum clocks. Since the popularity of Henry Work's song, these clocks have been referred to primarily as Grandfather Clocks.

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