Big Ben

[josaphine32]

My daughter and i went to london yesterday and as we looked at big ben she asked me who named it big ben and why Ben not albert or george? what historical name does ben belong to any one got any ideas please

Thanks

[Quizmonster]

Click here for the answer.

[Tatty Rollox]

George Mears, a master bellfounder and owner of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, undertook the hour bell casting. Mears quoted �2401 for casting the hour bell and deducted the sum of �1829 for the metal from the first bell so the actual invoice dated 28th May 1858 was for �572. It took a week to break up the old bell, three furnaces were required to melt the metal, and the mould was heated all day before the actual casting, the first time this had been done in British bell-founding. It took 20 minutes to fill the mould with molten metal, and 20 days for the metal to solidify and cool. Transporting the bell the few miles from the foundry to the Houses of Parliament was a major event. Traffic stopped as the bell, mounted on a trolley drawn by sixteen brightly beribboned horses, made its way over London Bridge, along Borough Road, and over Westminster Bridge. The streets had been decorated for the occasion and enthusiastic crowds cheered the bell along the route. The bells of the Great Clock of Westmister rang across London for the first time on 31st May 1859, and Parliament had a special sitting to decide on a suitable name for the great hour bell. During the debate the Chief Lord of the Woods and Forests, Sir Benjamin Hall, a large and ponderous man known affectionately in the House as "Big Ben", rose and gave a long speech on the subject. When, at the end of his oratorical marathon, Sir Benjamin sank back into his seat, a wag in the chamber shouted out: "Why not call him Big Ben and have done with it?" The house erupted in laughter; Big Ben had been named. This is the commonly accepted story.
(cont)

[Tatty Rollox]

However, according to the booklet written for the old Ministry of Works by Alan Phillips: "Like other nice stories, this has no documentary support; Hansard failed to record the interjection. The Times had been alluding to 'Big Ben of Westminster' aince 1856. Probably, the derivation must be sought more remotely. The current champion of the prize ring was Benjamin Caunt, who had fought terrific battles and who in 1857 lasted sixty rounds of a drawn contest in his final appearance at the age of 42. As Caunt at one period scaled 17 stone (238 lbs, or 108 kilogrammes), his nickname was Big Ben, and that was readily bestowed by the populace on any object the heaviest of its class. So Big Ben was already a catchphrase". In September, a mere two months after it officially went into service, Big Ben cracked. Big Ben was taken out of service and for the next three years the hours were struck on the
largest of the quarter-bells. Eventually, a lighter hammer was fitted, a square piece of metal chipped out of the soundbow, and the bell given an eighth of a turn to present an undamaged section to the hammer. This is the bell as we hear it today, the crack giving it its distinctive but less-than-perfect tone. Along with the main bell, the belfry also houses four quarter bells which play the Westminster Quarters, derived from Handel's Messiah, on the quarter hours. A 20 foot (6 m) metal replica of the clock tower, known as Little Ben, complete with working clock, stands on a traffic island close to Victoria Station. And here is Benjamin Caunt ...

[Quizmonster]

Alan Philips, in the booklet referred to by Tatty above, makes the point that: "Hansard failed to record the interjection"...ie the joking shout about calling the bell Big Ben...as if that proved no such interjection occurred.
The point is that Hansard is not and never has been a verbatim account of proceedings in Parliament. In particular, it has usually been the case that remarks made by MPs who are seated at the time go unrecorded. Such a sedentary cry as "Why not call him Big Ben and have done with it?" was almost certainly exactly that sort of thing.
My point is that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence in this situation!
A further point is that - if the words 'Big Ben' really were commonly used to mean anything biggest in its class - it is surprising that such an idiom is not recorded in The Oxford English Dictionary.
All-in-all, I think I'll stick with the Sir Benjamin Hall derivation. (No offence, T!)

[Tatty Rollox]

......

you looking for trouble ?

[Quizmonster]

You seem to be well-equipped with arrows, T, so - as long as I can bring my AK47 - you're on!

[BigMac]

Is this a private argument or can anyone join in? Just for the h*ll of it, here's what Parliament itself (through the House of Commons Library) has to say on the subject:

What is the origin of the name 'Big Ben'?
There are two theories of how the bell got its name. The first suggests that it was taken from the nickname of a champion heavyweight boxer of the time called Ben Caunt. The second and more probable explanation, is that it was named after the bulky Welshman Sir Benjamin Hall, who was First Commissioner of Works from 1855 to 1858 and whose name was inscribed on the bell. [My italics]

Source: http://www.parliament.uk/faq/history___buliding_faq_page.cfm#his7

[Quizmonster]

That's pretty well what I said, too, BigMac! (And - if you actually look at the material involving Tatty and myself - you'll see that it wasn't "an argument" by any stretch of the imagination....but a joke.)

[Tatty Rollox]

Surely the Ministry of Works booklet must be given due weight. Alan Phillips states that The Times had been alluding to the bell as "Big Ben of Westminster" since 1856, that is three years before the Parliamentary sitting where the "Why not call him Big Ben and have done with it" remark was allegedly made. Is it not possible that people were already calling the bell Big Ben and that the joke against Sir Benjamin Hall was also a combined statement of let's call the blessed thing what the people are already calling it?