Benjamin Hall, Baron Llanover (8 November 1802- 27 April 1867) was a Whig / Liberal politician and social, church, health and local government reformer who served in the House of Commons from 1831 until his elevation to the peerage in 1859.

He also oversaw the completion of the new Houses of Parliament and is today chiefly remembered as the person after whom Big Ben, the largest bell in its Elizabeth Tower, is named.

[7][8] From the time of his marriage to Augusta Waddington in 1823, and under her influence, he also became interested in the revival of the Welsh language and culture, a cause the couple championed throughout their lives.

In so doing he took on the powerful and conservative Somerset family, headed by the Duke of Beaufort, which had since the time of Henry the VIII dominated Monmouthshire politics and controlled the seat in the House of Commons.

[11][12][13] His platform was pro-reform against a sitting MP who had publicly announced his opposition to the Reform Bill which Hall, in his first actions in the House of Commons, supported during its first and second readings in June and July 1831.

[31] In this same debate, he dealt with what he regarded as the many other abuses of the considerable property holdings of the church and how they were used to enrich senior clergy rather than being applied to religious purposes.

[34] As himself the grandson of a senior clergyman, Rev Dr Benjamin Hall (1742-1825), a Canon in and Chancellor of Llandaff Cathedral, many of his views on the church would have been anathema to his grandfather who was a substantial pluralist who simultaneously held three livings and two prebendaries, earning a handsome income from distant parishes that he could rarely if ever have visited.

[39] From the 1830s up to the time of their repeal in 1846, and despite being a large landholder, he opposed the Corn Laws which protected agricultural interests, but led to higher food prices in urban areas.

In March 1853 he gave notice in Parliament of his intention to introduce a bill to reform the London Corporation, something he eventually achieved during his tenure as First Commissioner for Public Works.

He was particularly concerned about the way in which Chadwick and Southwood Smith set a programme that frequently put the Board at odds with local government and how, in his opinion, this made it ineffective.

[49][50] Following publication of Queen Victoria's Coronation Honours List on 16 August 1838, he was made a Baronet in the style of "Sir Benjamin Hall of Llanover Court".

On 29 January 1855, Sir Benjamin addressed a letter to the Home Secretary and Prime Minister explaining these problems and setting out his observations and those of medical experts.

"[57][58] While it was to take him a few more years to bring legislation that would reform the government of London, following the 1855 epidemic Benjamin Hall introduced and succeeded in having passed into law further and comprehensive amendments to the Public Health Act.

The amendments also provided for the employment of officials to ensure the implementation of the measures set out in the Act and permitted the government to intervene in sanitary matters in situations where a local board did not exist or was ineffective.

Notably it also introduced regulations governing the construction of houses in order to ensure that they were properly ventilated, insulated, drained and provided with appropriately located sanitary facilities.

[59][60] He also introduced a bill, which on 14 August 1855, a few weeks after his departure as Minister of Health, was signed into law as the new "Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Consolidation and Amendment Act".

[67][68] During his two and a half year tenure in this position he did much to improve public parks and roads in London in particular and oversaw the final stages of completion of the new Houses of Parliament.

Evidence of his improvement of parks remains through the presence of St Govor's Well in Kensington Gardens, a drinking fountain which he had erected and named after the patron saint of the church at Llanover.

In October 1854, shortly after taking up the health portfolio, he commenced work on a bill that would create the first city-wide form of government for London.

The bill was informed by the report of a Royal Commission of the preceding year that had looked into governance and the state of the city, but ultimately differed quite substantially in many of its provisions.

At the time the city was made up of a number of independent boroughs and vestries that were unable to coordinate their efforts due to fierce protection of vested interests.

Recommendations of the Royal Commission included creation of seven new municipalities in the place of the multitude of existing authorities, but was considered too costly and likely to be firmly opposed by those who wished to retain the status quo.

This effectively marked the end of his career in politics as in the House of Lords he was never as active as he had been in the Commons and seldom contributed to debate.

[91][92][93][94] Although tolerant of other beliefs, Augusta Herbert's parents were concerned regarding the attitudes of their more conservative tenants towards a future Catholic landlord.