Benjamin Hall (29 September 1778 – 31 July 1817) was an industrialist, politician and prominent figure in

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

Background, education and connections

Benjamin Hall was born on 29 September 1778, the eldest son of the Reverend Benjamin Hall, chancellor of the

Diocese of Llandaff The Diocese of Llandaff is an Anglican (Church in Wales) diocese that traces its roots to pre-Reformation times as heir of a Catholic bishopric. It is headed by the Bishop of Llandaff, whose seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Pet ...

, and Elizabeth. He was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and received a Queens Scholarship to study at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

in 1794, from where he graduated with a BA in 1799 and MA in 1801.List of the Queen's Scholars of St Peter's College, Westminster, 1852, p44

/ref> He had joined

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in 1798 and was called to the bar in 1801. In December 1801, Hall married Charlotte, the daughter of

ironmaster An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain. The ironmaster was usually a large ...

Richard Crawshay Richard Crawshay (1739 – 27 June 1810) was a London iron merchant and then South Wales ironmaster; he was one of ten known British millionaires in 1799. Early life and marriage Richard Crawshay was born in Normanton in the West Riding of ...

, in what historian P. A. Symonds calls an "advantageous marriage" - her dowry was £40,000. His father-in-law made him a partner in the

Cyfarthfa Ironworks The Cyfarthfa Ironworks were major 18th- and 19th-century ironworks in Cyfarthfa, on the north-western edge of Merthyr Tydfil, in South West Wales. The beginning The Cyfarthfa works were begun in 1765 by Anthony Bacon (by then a merchant in Lo ...

in 1803 and in 1808 passed the

Abercarn Abercarn is a small town and community in Caerphilly county borough, Wales. It is 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Newport on the A467 between Cwmcarn and Newbridge, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. History An estate at ...

estate to him. This munificence was followed in 1810 with a bequest from his father-in-law of a 37.5 per cent share in the ironworks, which covered a significant amount of land and houses as well as the mine and quarry workings.

Member of Parliament

Hall was the first industrialist to win a Welsh county seat in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. He served as MP for

Totnes Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-so ...

from 1806 to 1812, for Westbury from 1812 to 1814, and for the

Glamorganshire , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

county seat from then until his death.The History of Parliament: HALL, Benjamin (1778-1817), of Hensol Castle, Glam. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/hall-benjamin-1778-1817 He ended his association with Lincoln's Inn in 1816.

Family and heir

Hall died on 31 July 1817 and a monument was erected in his memory at

Llandaff Cathedral Llandaff Cathedral ( cy, Eglwys Gadeiriol Llandaf) is an Anglican cathedral and parish church in Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales. It is the seat of the Bishop of Llandaff, head of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. It is dedicated to Saint Peter ...

in his Glamorganshire constituency. He had bought

Hensol Castle Hensol Castle (previously Hensol House) is a castellated mansion in the gothic architecture style dating from the late 17th century or early 18th century, now a wedding and conference venue for The Vale Resort. It is located north of Clawdd Coch ...

for £45,500 in 1815 to fulfil an election promise that he would own a residence in Glamorgan, some people having suggested that his personal loyalties lay with his business interests in neighbouring

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

. A year later, he sold his share in the ironworks to his brother-in-law, William Crawshay, for £90,000. Hall and his wife had six sons and a daughter. One child was

Benjamin Hall, 1st Baron Llanover Benjamin Hall, 1st Baron Llanover (8 November 1802 – 27 April 1867), known as Sir Benjamin Hall between 1838 and 1859, was a Welsh civil engineer and politician. The famous "Big Ben" may have been named for him. Background Hall was a son o ...

, a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

and politician who as Commissioner of Works was notable for the construction of the Clock Tower of the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

. Some hold that the bell is accordingly known as "

Big Ben Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England, and the name is frequently extended to refer also to the clock and the clock tower. The officia ...

". Benjamin Hall senior had been called "Slender Ben" on account of his build. Sir Benjamin Hall, a Welsh civil engineer was First Commissioner of Works, and his name is inscribed on the bell hanging in the clock tower.------extract—From the Times--“All bells, we believe, are christened before they begin to toll,” “and on this occasion it is proposed to call our king of bells ‘Big Ben’ in honour of Sir Benjamin Hall, the president of the board of works, during whose tenure of office it was cast.”

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Benjamin 1778 births 1817 deaths Welsh industrialists Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Totnes Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Welsh constituencies People educated at Westminster School, London British ironmasters UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 UK MPs 1812–1818