INDUSTRIES 



received in 1877 the gift of a new ring of 

 twelve bells cast by Messrs. Taylor of Lough- 

 borough, and ' Great Paul ' by the same firm, 

 weighing 17 tons, was safely hung in the 

 north-west tower in May 1882. 



The latest bell bearing Phelps's name is 

 the priests' bell at St. George's Southwark, 

 inscribed : R. PHELPS 1738 T. LESTER FECIT. 

 Phelps died in 1738, and the order for this 

 bell was completed by his foreman Thomas 

 Lester, to whom he bequeathed his business 

 and the lease of the foundry. Lester removed 

 the business from Essex Street to the premises 

 which it has continued to occupy until now 

 at 32 and 34,WhitechapeI Road. His first peal 

 was cast for Shoreditch parish church in 1739 

 and the commission greatly pleased him. The 

 tenor bell of St. Mary-le-Bow, which weighs 

 53 cwt. 24 lb., was cast by Phelps and Lester 

 in 1738, nine others by Lester and Pack in 

 1762, and two trebles (increasing the peal to 

 twelve) by the successors of the firm in i88i. 8 

 In the same year (1738) the tenor at West- 

 minster Abbey, which once belonged to 

 St. Michael's Cornhill, was recast by the firm. 

 Lester's management, however, was not suc- 

 cessful, and the fortunes of the foundry were at 

 a low ebb until 1752, when he took into 

 partnership Thomas Pack, who appears to 

 have been his foreman. The partnership of 

 Lester and Pack was more prosperous, and 

 was marked by several changes in the style 

 of lettering on the bells and the extensive 

 use of rhyming couplets. One instance of 

 the latter will suffice, taken from the treble 

 at Ingatestone, Essex : 



THE FOUNDER HE HAS PLAY'D HIS PART WHICH SHEWS 



HIM MASTER OF HIS ART 

 SO HANG ME WELL AND RING ME TRUE AND I WILL 



SING YOUR PRAISES DUE. 



In the decoration of their bells they used 

 various ornamental devices, one of which, 

 consisting of alternate loops and V-shaped 

 terminations, became known as the White- 

 chapel pattern and lasted till 1835. They 

 also introduced the practice of inscribing each 

 bell with its weight. Lester died in 1769, 

 when his nephew William Chapman was 

 taken into partnership, and the firm continued 

 as Pack and Chapman until the death of 

 Thomas Pack in 1781. Chapman then took 

 into partnership William Mears, whom, as a 

 young man, he had for some time employed 

 and taught the business, and who had after- 

 wards set up in business for himself. 9 On 

 the death of Chapman in 1784 Mears re- 



8 H. B. Walters, op. cit. 20. 



9 A. D. Tvssen, op. cit. 41. 



mained sole partner until 1789, when he 

 retired, leaving the foundry in the hands of 

 his son Thomas Mears. 10 It is interesting to 

 note, as Mr. Walters points out, that the 

 name of Mears has been connected with the 

 firm for 125 years, although the last repre- 

 sentative died in 1873. 



The Whitechapel foundry became at this 

 time the most famous foundry in England, 11 

 Dobson's foundry at Downham Market, Nor- 

 folk, having been fused into it, as well as the 

 Gloucester foundry, which was incorporated 

 in 1732. The old foundry at Gloucester had 

 existed for centuries. 'John of Gloster ' was a 

 bell-founder there in the I3th century ; but 

 it came chiefly into note under the Rudhall 

 family in the i8th century. 



Thomas Mears was at the head of the 

 business until 1810, taking his son Thomas 

 into partnership in 1806. The fine peal 

 of bells at the parish church of St. Dunstan, 

 Stepney, was cast by this firm in 1806. 

 Thomas Mears the younger succeeded in 

 1810 and remained sole head until 1843, 

 when the firm became Charles and George 

 Mears and so continued until 1857. O n 

 the death of Charles Mears in that year the 

 style of the firm was altered to George Mears 

 and Co. The famous Big Ben which strikes 

 the hours in the Clock Tower of the Houses 

 of Parliament was recast by George Mears 

 from a design by Mr. Denison (afterwards 

 Lord Grimthorpe) in 1858. The bell weighs 

 13 tons 10 cwt. 3 qrs. I5lb. and took the 

 place of one weighing i6 tons cast by John 

 Warner and Sons in 1856, which was un- 

 fortunately cracked whilst being exhibited to 

 the public before being mounted in the Clock 

 Tower. In 1863 George Mears took as his 

 partner Robert Stainbank, and the firm became 

 known as Mears and Stainbank. On the 

 death of Mears in 18/3 Stainbank was the 

 sole proprietor. He died in 1883, and was 

 succeeded by Arthur Silva Lawson, on whose 

 death in 1904 the business passed into the 

 hands of Arthur Hughes, its present proprietor. 



There were some minor Middlesex founders. 

 Thomas Swain, who was born at West Bed- 

 font in the county, succeeded in 1739 as 

 executor and residuary legatee to the business 

 of Robert Catlin, a founder in St. Andrew's 

 Holborn. Swain removed the foundry to 

 Longford near West Drayton ; besides the 

 peal at Thames Ditton, several bells cast by 



10 Stahlschmidt (Ch. Bells Oj Surr. 105) says 

 that William Mears took his son Thomas into 

 partnership in 1787, the partnership lasting till 

 1791 



11 Ellacombe, Ch. Bells of Devon (1872), 9, 62. 



167 



