How did Big Ben get its name?

Big Ben is probably the best known clock in the world. The clock itself was started in May 1859 and the striking of the hours followed in July and the quarterly chiming in September.

Westminster had a clock before Big Ben. The old Westminster clock was only a short distance from the present clock tower. First reference to that clock was in 1286 and believed to run for approxiamently 300 years.

Big Ben's chiming plays the Cambridge quarters on four bells and is now known as the "Westminster chime". Big Ben is actually the name for the hour bell that was installed in the tower. During a debate in Parliament, Sir Benjamin Hall, a very robust gentleman, was making a long speech about naming the bell and someone called out  "Call it Big Ben and have done with it!"

There were two Big Ben bells. The first bell was cast in 1856 but was cracked beyond repair after being struck by its hammer during testing. A new bell was cast in 1858. It first chimed in July 1859 and in September it too cracked . The bell was taken out of service for 3 years. During that time the hour strike was played on one of the four quarter bells. The second bell was repaired by chipping out part of the rim around the crack, and the bell given an eighth of a turn so the new hammer struck in a different place. Big Ben has chimed with an odd twang ever since and is still in use today complete with the crack. At the time of its casting, Big Ben was the largest bell in the British Isles until 1881 when "Great Paul", a 16¾ ton bell was hung in St Paul's Cathedral.

The clock and tower have become a symbol for the United Kingdom and London and has become famous all over the world.