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Mr McHattie and Mr Ritchie’s Mechanical Triumph: the thread about the Princes Street Gardens Floral Clock

The Princes Street Gardens floral clock is a fine Edinburgh institution. At the time of writing (June 2023) it was being replanted to celebrate the centenary of the Flying Scotsman steam locomotive (not “the train” of the same name as the tweet below would suggest). But this year is also an anniversary for the clock itself and it will be 120 years old, having first been revealed to the public on this very day (June 11th) in 1903. It was the first floral clock not just in Scotland but also in the UK, and possibly the 3rd in the world (there being earlier examples in Paris and Detroit). The Edinburgh clock was the work of the City Superintendent of Parks & Gardens, John W. McHattie, who enlisted the help of James Ritchie & Son., the famous Edinburgh clockmaker on Leith Street who built and wound the city’s public clocks. It so happened that Ritchies had in their workshop at this time the mechanism from one of the turret clocks from Elie Parish Church in Fife, which was surplus to requirements. This was installed in the base of the Allan Ramsay Monument next to the clock, and a drive shaft was run from the clock mechanism to the time hand in a small passageway under the flowerbeds.

The First Floral Clock, as it was when revealed to the public in 1903. Photo by a Mr Robert Oliver of Murieston Crescent. © Edinburgh City Libraries

This first clock had a single time hand – an hour hand – which was a large metal planting tray 4 feet 2 inches (127cm) long and was “delicately balanced” on account of the slope but kept time perfectly. It was described as a “beautiful study in carpet bedding, in which American aloes, echevarias, sedums and other plants” were “set out with great taste in a bold geometric pattern.” The clock face was was 12 feet in diameter, the hours delineated by two concentric circles planted of sedums and the numbers picked out in “fresh green pyrethrum“. The centre of the face was split into quarters, each denoting and planted to represent one of the seasons of the year.

The Dundee Evening Telegraph hailed it as “a mechanical triumph“. The Devon Valley Tribune called it “the great wonder of the Gardens“, the Dundee Courier was a bit less generous and went with “the quaintest of horticultural freaks“. The Town Council was so pleased with Mchattie that they voted him a raise of £100 per year (almost £10,000 in 2023 terms. His picture below can be found on the website of the Friends of Saughton Gardens as he was also the man we have to thank for the first planting of that public park, which opened in 1910. The Friends have a good write-up of McHattie and his work at Saughton on their website, here. He died in 1923 when he was still the city’s Head Gardener, after 22 years service.

J. W. McHattie

The clock has, appropriately, changed with the times. By the time the below picture was taken in 1914 it had acquired a minute hand, which was 10 feet long, and accompanied a new 6 foot long hour hand.

The Princes Street floral clock, from the City of Edinburgh Report on Public Parks & Open Spaces, 1914, reproduced by kind permission of Mike Ashworth. © Mike Ashworth

The mechanism was modernised in 1936 but still required daily winding, something which took place until its platinum anniversary, when it was electrified in 1973. It was during the 1936 modernisation that a “cuckoo” sound was added to it, the sound being generated by two tuned organ pipes in the base of the Ramsay monument.

Detail of floral clock mechanism in plinth of statue to Allan Ramsay

In 1943, the clock’s 40th year, it was given a wartime makeover by the Superintendent of Parks John T. Jeffrey. This featured a large Royal Navy warship decorated with anchors and other naval insignia and a profile picture of Winston Churchill smoking a cigar and surrounded by the legend The Hour, The Man. The planting incorporated beetroots and carrots so as to make an edible contribution to the Dig for Victory campaign.

The 1943 floral clock, The Scotsman, Saturday 17 July 1943

In 1947, for the first Edinburgh International Festival, the names of famous composers were added in to the planting, which was repeated in 1948.

The 1948 floral clock, with Chopin, Liszt, Bhrams, Verdi and Grief in the planting. The date of 1848 next to Chopin’s name in the top left commemorates his visit to the city in that year. Picture from an ebay postcard listing.

In 1949 it was planted to mark the Scottish Industries Exhibition in Glasgow that year. For 1953, the clock’s 50th birthday, the Parks Superintendent, Mr A. T. Harrison, hit upon the idea of adding a “real” cuckoo to the clock. Thus a wooden bird house was added to accommodate the bird, which popped out when it chimed. The organ pipes were replaced at this time by an electric system of tuning valves connected to a loudspeaker.

Ritchies would go on to provide the mechanisms for many floral clocks throughout the world (“practically all” of them, claimed the Evening News in 1956), including ones in Salisbury, South Rhodesia (modern day Harare, Zimbabwe) and Sydney Zoo.

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