John Harrison wins the Longitude prize
- When
- 1772–1773
- Where
- Parliament of Great Britain; Unnamed palace where King George III conducted the tests
- Episodes
- 2
In 1773, John Harrison received a monetary award from Parliament in London for his marine chronometer. Although he never received the official prize, he was granted £8,750 after decades of trials and political disputes. This recognition followed King George III's personal testing of his watch, which confirmed its accuracy.
Episodes
- King George's Verification of H5
King George III tested Harrison's watch No. 2 in 1772, confirming its high accuracy.
- Parliamentary Award to Harrison
In 1773, Parliament granted Harrison £8,750 for his achievements, though he never received the official prize.
Background and detail
Background. The Longitude Act of 1714 established a prize contest for determining ship longitude. Harrison designed a marine clock in 1730 to compete for this prize. Despite initial successes, the Board of Longitude demanded further trials, leading to years of conflict. Harrison eventually petitioned Parliament, aided by King George III's verification of his watch's accuracy in 1772.
Parliamentary Award. In 1773, at age 80, Harrison received £8,750 from Parliament. This was not the official prize, which was never awarded to anyone. The award resulted from political pressure and the King's threat to intervene. Harrison had previously received interim payments, including £10,000 in 1765, but the final parliamentary grant marked the culmination of his struggle for recognition.
Verification and Conflict. King George III personally tested Harrison's watch No. 2 (H5) in 1772, finding it accurate to within one-third of a second per day. This verification prompted the King to advise Harrison to petition Parliament. The Board of Longitude had previously refused the full prize, claiming accuracy was luck, leading to the Harrisons' outrage and eventual parliamentary intervention.
People involved
- John Harrison · Recipient of the parliamentary award
- King George III · Monarch who verified the watch's accuracy
- Board of Longitude · Committee that initially refused the prize
- Parliament of Great Britain · Legislative body that granted the monetary award
Sources
- John Harrison Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-24
- Longitude Act Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-27
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.