~ HMS Conway School Ship Barometer – School Prize c1921 ~
A lovely oak cased aneroid barometer presented as a prize in 1921 aboard HMS Conway, the naval training school.
The barometer has a white porcelain dial with black writing including a central flower motif and a single black steel hand.
The dial is covered with a brass edged domed glass front with incorporated black steel hand.
There is a brass plaque mounted below the dial reading: ‘School Ship HMS Conway, Senior Class School Prize, Presented To A.A.
Duncan, Xmas 1921’.
The case has been crudely hand carved to the rear by the recipient with his name ‘A.A. Duncan’.
There is a hook attached to rear of the case for mounting.
~ Dimensions ~
The barometer has a diameter of 23cm (9 inches) and a depth of 5cm (2 inches).
It weighs 1.59 Kg.
~ Condition ~
The glass front is not fixed to the case. It once would have been attached with a hinge and lock of sorts but these have been
damaged and removed. The glass front is currently held in place with a metal pin to one edge and has some putty around the
circumference to hold the glass within its brass frame. It will need fixing if the barometer is to be hung and used.
The dial is not securely held in place either.
There are three pin holes in the wood around the outer edge of the dial, which suggests there was something else once attached,
again not present.
The dial is clean and the case is in good order also without damage and only light wear.
~ HMS Conway ~
HMS Conway was a naval training school or “school ship”, founded in 1859 and housed for most of her life aboard a 19th-century
wooden ship of the line. The ship was originally stationed on the Mersey near Liverpool, then moved to the Menai Strait during World
War II. While being towed back to Birkenhead for a refit in 1953, she ran aground and was wrecked, and later burned. The school
moved to purpose-built premises on Anglesey where it continued for another twenty years.
#8015
