|
 It
may surprise many U.S. citizens today
that the famous Liberty Bell itself
was “almost” British.
American colonies, not yet industrialized,
often sought British expertise for
needed work.
In 1751,
the Province of Pennsylvania sought
a bell for its State House to “call
the public together.” Key members
of the Pennsylvania Assembly sent
a letter to their London-based colonial
agent, Robert Charles, to make an
appropriate purchase. Charles found
a source: Whitechapel
Bell Foundry. Established in 1570
during the reign of Queen Elizabeth
I, the foundry is currently the oldest
existing British manufacturing company.
As it does today, in the 1700s the
foundry specialized in casting and
forging bells and their associated
fittings.
 Just
10 months after Pennsylvania sent
its request, September 1, 1752,
the new Bell arrived in Philadelphia.
Weighing
about a ton, the Bell measured roughly
12 feet around the bottom lip and
seven-and-a half-feet around its
crown.
But, the
Bell had a difficult start. It was
not hung for six months, and when
finally placed into position at the
State House steeple in September,
1753, the Bell cracked on the first
test stroke of its clapper.
Some blamed
flaws in the Bell’s casting.
Others complained the metal was too
brittle. Whitechapel’s own history
describes the American reaction this
way: “(t)hey did not appreciate
that Bell metal is brittle and relies
on this to a great extent for its
freedom of tone.”
Two Philadelphia
foundry workers, John Pass and John
Stow, then offered to recast the Bell.
Upon melting it down for recasting,
the two tried to make the new Bell
less brittle by adding an ounce-and-a-half
of copper to each pound of material
from the old Bell.
The result
was less than spectacular. Hung in
March of 1753, the new Bell’s
tone displeased many. Soon afterward,
it was sent back to Pass and Stow.
In June,
1753, a third version of the Bell
was hung in the State House steeple,
and tested. The tone was not much
better, according to Assembly Speaker
Isaac Norris. In fact, he went so
far as to urge Whitechapel in London
to cast another Bell for his provincial
capital. The new Whitechapel Bell
arrived in May, 1754. It also suffered
bad reviews. Most agreed it sounded
no better than Pass and Stow’s
second recasting of the original Whitechapel
Bell.
Resigned
to their fate, it appears, the Pennsylvania
Assemblymen agreed to keep both Bells.
The newer Whitechapel Bell was hung
in the attic of the State House under
the roof to ring the time for local
residents. The older Pass and Stow
Bell was to remain in the State House
steeple to be used for calling the
Assembly together and summoning people
on special occasions and events. The
State House was many years later renamed
Independence
Hall, and the steeple Bell would
come to be known as the Liberty Bell.
Some
200 years later, during America’s
bicentennial anniversary of its independence
from Great Britain, the Whitechapel
Bell Foundry was commissioned by the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office of
the British government to cast the
Bicentennial Bell, which resides in
Independence
National Historical Park
in Philadelphia and bears the inscription:
FOR
THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA
FROM THE PEOPLE OF BRITAIN
4 JULY 1976
LET FREEDOM RING
That same
year, according to the foundry, 30
or so lighthearted American “demonstrators”
formed outside the foundry building
in mock protest over the Bell's defects.
They carried placards proclaiming
“WE GOT A LEMON” and “WHAT
ABOUT THE WARRANTY?” In the
same spirit, the foundry claims to
have told the protestors they would
happily replace the Bell, “as
long as it was returned to us in its
original packaging.”
** Photo
Credits: Peter West, National Science
Foundation
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