Bernard Mason

Bernard Mason OBE (b. 1895, d. 1981) was a prominent Colchester businessman and philanthropist who was born in Ipswich but lived his whole life in Colchester. He was the proprietor of Mason's printing firm from which he retired as director in 1962. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=21987]

Mason began collecting Colchester-made clocks in 1927 and bequeathed the collection to the town, along with his home "Tymperlys" (the former mansion of Elizabeathan scientist Dr William Gilberd). [http://www.brianloomes.com/collecting/smorthwaite/index.html] Mason was a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers and the author of "Colchester Clockmakers" (1969). He was made an OBE in 1959. He wrote a book called "Clocks and Watches in Colchester England” which was published in 1969 with a price of four guineas. There are 375 examples known of Colchester clocks and Mason managed to collect 216 of them in his lifetime travelling far and wide to bring them back “home”.

Tymperlys currently houses the Mason Collection as part of the Colchester Clock Museum. The collection comprises 203 clocks and 14 watches made in Colchester from the 17th Century to 19th Century [http://www.cornucopia.org.uk/html/search/verb/GetRecord/7268] Significant items include a lantern clock from 1645 by William Bacon, and at mantel clock from 1725 by Nathaniel Hedge. [http://www.colchestermuseums.org.uk/tymp_html/Tymp_topten.html]

Bernard Mason was in charge or the air raid warnings throughout the Colchester district during WWII.

Mason's younger brother Eudo Colecestra Mason (1901-69) was a scholar of German literature.