“the irregularities of London”
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Ruth Belville
Elizabeth Ruth Naomi Belville, also known as the Greenwich Time Lady, was a businesswoman from London. She, her mother Maria Elizabeth, and her father John Henry, sold people the time. This was done by setting Belville's watch to Greenwich Mean Time, as shown by the Greenwich clock, each day and then "selling" people the time by letting them look at the watch and adjust theirs.
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business · English "time seller" (1854–1943) · businessperson · horologist · merchant · also Ruth Belville, the Greenwich Time Lady, Belville
Born 5 March 1854 · Died 7 December 1943 · Q468475
6 published statements · 0 followers
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It might be amusing to the present company to learn how GMT was distributed to the watch and clock trade. “A woman possessed of a chronometer obtained permission from the Astronomer Royal at the time (perhaps no mere man could have been successful) to call at the Observatory and have it corrected as often as she pleased.
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the irregularities of London
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2026· 2 entries
“It might be amusing to the present company to learn how GMT was distributed to the watch and clock trade. “A woman possessed of a chronometer obtained permission from the Astronomer Royal at the time (perhaps no mere man could have been successful) to call at the Observatory and have it corrected as often as she pleased.”
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2025· 1 entry
New Scientist: Ruth Belville: How the Greenwich Time Lady kept London ticking
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1943· 1 entry
Died 1943-12-07.
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1908· 1 entry
From St John Wynne, a director of the Standard Time Company, which sold a telegraphic time signal service and was Belville's main competitor
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1854· 1 entry
Born 1854-03-05.
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