Benjamin Hall (industrialist)

File:Portrait of Benjamin Hall, Esqr. M.P (4670824) (cropped).jpg

Benjamin Hall

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

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, and Elizabeth Grant.<ref>Fraser, M. The Halls of Pembrokeshire, Ancestors of Benjamin Hall, Afterwards Lord Llanover of Llanover and Abercarn, National Library of Wales Journal, Vol 12, No 1, 1961, p16 https://cylchgronau.llyfrgell.cymru/view/1277425/1281562/25#?xywh=-166%2C2246%2C3330%2C1689</ref><ref name="parliament"/> He was educated at Westminster School and received a Queens Scholarship to study at Christ Church, Oxford in 1794, from where he graduated with a BA in 1799 and MA in 1801.<ref>List of the Queen's Scholars of St Peter's College, Westminster, 1852, p441 [1]</ref><ref name="alumni">Template:Alox2</ref> He had joined Lincoln's Inn in 1798 and was called to the bar in 1801.<ref name="parliament"/>

In December 1801, Hall married Charlotte, the daughter of ironmaster Richard Crawshay, 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 in 1803 and in 1808 passed the Abercarn 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.<ref name="parliament"/>

Member of Parliament

Hall was the first industrialist to win a Welsh county seat in Parliament. He served as MP for Totnes in Devon from 1806 to 1812 and, after losing that seat, for Westbury in Wiltshire from 1812. In 1814, he transferred his seat to Glamorganshire, Wales until his death.<ref name="parliament">The History of Parliament: HALL, Benjamin (1778-1817), of Hensol Castle, Glam. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/hall-benjamin-1778-1817 Template:Webarchive</ref> He ended his association with Lincoln's Inn in 1816.<ref name="alumni"/><ref>National Library of Wales: National Library of Wales Journal, Vol12, no1, 1 July 1961, pp1-15 "The Halls of Pembrokeshire, ancestors of Benjamin Hall, afterwards Lord Llanover of Llanover and Abercarn"</ref>

Family and heir

Hall died on 31 July 1817 and a monument was erected in his memory at Llandaff Cathedral in his Glamorganshire constituency.<ref name="parliament"/><ref name="alumni"/> He had bought Hensol Castle 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. A year later, he sold his share in the ironworks to his brother-in-law, William Crawshay, for £90,000.<ref name="parliament"/>

Hall and his wife had six sons and a daughter.<ref name="parliament"/> His eldest son, Benjamin Hall, 1st Baron Llanover, a social reformer and politician who as First Commissioner of Works, oversaw the final phase of the construction of the Palace of Westminster, with "Big Ben", the largest bell in its clock tower, accordingly being named after him.<ref>FindMyPast: Evening Mail, 22 Oct 1856, p7, col4, "Big Ben of Westminster" https://www.findmypast.com/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0001316%2F18561022&page=7&article=039&stringtohighlight=benjamin+hall+big+ben</ref><ref>The Story of Big Ben, Whitechapel Bell Foundry https://web.archive.org/web/20180217074214/http://www.whitechapelbellfoundry.co.uk/bigben.htm (Retrieved 31 Dec 2024).</ref> Benjamin Hall senior had been called "Slender Ben" on account of his build.<ref name="parliament"/>

References

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External links

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