Matthew Tootell was born in St Helens in 1765, On July 9th 1787 he married Ann Leadbetter at Prescot parish church when he was described as a clockmaker of Windle. In 1790 Matthew was living in Hardshaw in Windle and took James Dermet as an apprentice, and in 1791 took Charles Bellion as an apprentice. Charles was the father, of Edward Bellion a famous clock and watchmaker in Liverpool.
Matthew and Ann’s children Elizabeth (1788), William (1792) and Ann (1794) were all baptised at St. Mary’s Blackbrook (St. Helens) and Mary (1796) at St. Marys Lowe House (St. Helens). So the family must have come to Bolton between August 1796 and 1798 when Matthew is recorded in the Land Tax Redemption as a tenenat in Great Bolton.
In April 1799 Clara Tootell, the fifth child, was baptised at S.S. Peter and Pauls Bolton, but the father’s name Matthew was crossed out. Was this an indication that Matthew had already left Bolton.
Nothing more is known of him until a death in Clerkenwell, a known clockmaking area of London, in 1813 for a Matthew Tootell aged 47.
Whilst clocks by Matthew Tootell have survived, all known clocks made by him, including one in the Mayor’s Parlour in St. Helens, have Tootell St. Helens on the dial, sadly none from his time in Bolton are known to have survived.
An Oak 8 Day longcase clock by Matthew Toothill of St Helens, signed Mw. Tootell, the clock has a subsidiary second dial, with an eight-day movement striking on the hour.
Pictures and biography research by Sue Hurst the four times great granddaughter of Matthew.
A George III oak and mahogany longcase clock, signed Matthew Tootell, St. Helens, arched brass dial with a moonphase, subsidiary second dial, eight-day movement striking on the hour.
