Ministry of Works, Lambeth Bridge House, Albert Embankment, S.E.1 * With the Chief Press Officer's Compliments. BIG BEN This year "brings the hundredth "birthday of Big Ben. The first day of its service as a timekeeper is reckoned as May 31, and as a striking clock July 11, in 1859. The name is traditionally derived from the nickname of Sir Benjamin Hall, a stout party who had "been First Commissioner of Works in 1855-58. It is important to remember that Big Ben is strictly the hour bell; although the name has been extended'in ordinary speech to include the chimes, the dials, and even the clock tower. Early history Some 15 years of controversy and quarrelling preceded the perfecting of the clock. The Astronomer Royal, G.B. Airy, had to be appointed referee in a contest between designers and makers. Ultimately the clock was designed by E. B. Denison, later Lord Grirnthorpe, and made by Frederick Dent, of the firm of E. Dent and Co. The original Big Ben was cast on 6 August 1856 at Norton-on-Tees by the firm of Warner, of Cripplegate, and shipped tD London• it was pulled over Westminster Bridge in a truck drawn by 16 white horses and hung on gallows in New Palace Yard for testing. A crack was discovered and the bell had to be recast, by George Hears, of the Whitechapel Foundry, on 10 April 1858. / few months after starting to work in the tower, Big Ben the second also cracked, and up to 1862 it remained silent until adjusted on the advice of the Astronomer Royal. This crack is still apparent. Dimensions, etc. The clock tower, designed by "Barry with help from Pugin, is 316 feet above the Thames. Centres of the dials are 180 feet up. There are 336 stairs to the belfry. The dials are of cast iron, glazed. Each face is 23 feet in diameter. Figures are 2 feet long. Minute hands, 14 feet long, weigh 2 cwt. each; hour hands measure 9 feet. Dials are lit by cold cathode tubes, 14 to each face - these replaced gas-filled lamps in 1957. Floodlighting on special occasions "began in 1931 and has been a regular feature of summer since 1951. The Ayrton light, denoting that M.P.s are in session, dates from 1885. This was the first clock to incorporate the "double three-legged gravity" escapement. Pendulum is 13 feet long, weighs 6 cwt., beats every 2 seconds. Mechanism is wound by a motor thrice weekly. Big Ben itself is 9 feet in diameter, 7? feet in height, and weighs 13& tons (its predecessor was 16 tons). Its original note was E. Other bells: 1st quarter, G sharp, 3§ feet diameter, 21 cwt. ; 2nd, P sharp, 4 feet, 26 cwt. ; 3rd, E, 4& feet, 33 cwt. ; 4th, B, 6 feet, nearly 3 tons 18 cwt. The Westminster chime is supposed to go to the words: "All through this hour, Lord, be my guide, and by Thy power no foot shall slide". Messrs. E. Dent and Co. have always held the contract for maintaining the clock, and last did a complete overhaul in 1956 while the Ministry of Works was repairing war damage to the tower. Big Ben has accidentally stopped some dozen times, but only once because of a defect in the mechanism - on 9 December 1944 when the pendulum suspension spring broke. The hands have been halted by snow, birds, or objects left lying about by workmen. Its first broadcast was on New Year's Eve 1923 and its first appearance on television on New Year's Eve 1949. MINISTRY OF WORKS April 1959 2. 8, Malmesbury Close, Redland, BRISTOL, 6. 5th April, 1959. Miss Grace Field, News Editor, pathe News, Pathe House, 133/135, Oxford Street, LONDON, W. 1> Dear Miss Field, I expect you will remember our meeting and correspondence regarding the ancient Salisbury clock, and my remark at that time that I would contact you on any other interesting clock items. I expect you are already quite well informed about the forthcoming im}thc^Ritrtirv«rsery of the starting of the great Westminsterr^Lock in the Houses of Parliament. This takes place on ^he 3lst of May, and I do hope that you will be giving it ar^good show. My reason for writing is that 1 have been doing quite a lot of research into the history of the clock in connection with the feature articles we are preparing for "The Horological journal", and it does occur to me that 1 might ask you if I could co-operate with you in any way in any item on the clock which you propose to do. 1 do hope you will not mind me raising this point. As you know, 1 have made a special study of tower clocks of all kinds for many years—and, in fact, have just completed my thousandth clock tower climb. For this reason, it does occur to me that 1 might be useful to you. If I may venture on the comment, I have always thought that popular articles and even films which have covered the great clock have missed some of the most interesting points. These are not technical ones—they are historical and attractive ones, but, somehow, everyone seems to miss them. For one thing, the clock was the first of its kind, and laid the foundation of British supremacy in tower clock making throughout the world. This British position is still maintained, for we send clocks to all parts of the world, and have, since the Westminster clock was made, put up giant timekeepers in almost every country there is ! Yet, even so, no article or commentary on the West­ minster clock ever mentions this ! Many of our other engineer­ ing triumphs, such as the railway locomotive, the steam turbine, the jet engine, and so on, are applauded as examples of ways in which we have led the world—but nobody points out that we have done it in the field of tower clocks—and of precision time­ keeping. Just why, I cannot imagine, for the facts are plain enough ! Anyway, if I can be useful, well, I'd just love to have a chance to do what I can. Maybe you can let me know what you think about the idea. I gather, by the way, that we shall be climbing the tower on behalf of "The Horological Journal" in the near future to get pictures for our articles. If anything we note can be helpful to you, all the information is quite at your service. With all good wishes, Yours sincerely t {/ TV <r cc/cy ^y\,^ '' K% — , (p H-tcx-c.L e cw / y^5jr» /r£- ^'"CV ** f «• ^A» i -<F«a /f r4w^ /2K+*h*~ vJ Je,/>'jUy , jh>\y>i C/ J^. y /% \ //u/ ^*v <b<»—</ ZA. —— D i .