HALL
,
BENJAMIN
(
1802
-
1867
),
lord Llanover
;
son of Benjamin Hall (
1778
-
1817
);
born
8 Nov. 1802
. He m.,
4 Dec. 1823
,
Augusta
Waddington
. Elected
M.P.
for the
Monmouth boroughs
in
1831
he was unseated on petition, but was again returned in
1832
, and remained member until
1837
when he was transferred to
Marylebone
. He was created
baronet
in
1838
, and in
July 1855
became
commissioner for works
, the great clock of
Westminster
which was erected during his period of office being on that account called ‘
Big Ben
.’ He was raised to the
peerage
on
29 June 1859
, during
Palmerston
's second administration, as
baron Llanover of Llanover and Aber-carn
. He d.
27 April 1867
. He engaged in bitter controversy with
bishop
Connop
Thirlwall
on the state of the church in the
diocese of S. Davids
, and championed the right of the
Welsh
people to have religious services in their own tongue.
His importance in the history of
Wales
is entirely overshadowed by that of his wife.
AUGUSTA
WADDINGTON
was b.
21 March 1802
, the younger daughter of
Benjamin
Waddington
of
Tŷ Uchaf
,
Llanover
, and of
Georgina
Port
, a great-niece of
Mrs.
Delaney
. On her marriage with
Benjamin
Hall
the neighbouring estates of
Llanover
and
Aber-carn
were united. Her sister had already m.
baron Bunsen
(later
German ambassador
to
Great Britain
) whose circle was interested in Celtic studies. In
1834
she won a prize at a
Cardiff eisteddfod
for an essay on the
Welsh
language, and at this time seems to have adopted the pseudonym
Gwenynen Gwent
. Under the influence of
Thomas
Price
(
Carnhuanawc)
she became an early member of ‘
Cymreigyddion y Fenni
.’ Although she spoke but little
Welsh
she organized her household on what were considered
Welsh
lines and gave
Welsh
titles to her servants. She was a
patron
of the
Welsh Manuscripts Society
and of the
Welsh Collegiate Institution
at
Llandovery
. She acquired the manuscripts of
Edward
Williams
(
Iolo Morganwg
)
now in the
National Library of Wales
, by purchase from
Taliesin
Williams
(
Taliesin ab Iolo
)
. She collaborated with
Maria Jane
Williams
,
Aber-pergwm
(
see
Williams
of
Aberpergwm
) and
Brinley
Richards
in a
collection of Welsh airs
. She gave financial assistance to
D. Silvan
Evans
in connection with his dictionary. Her other main interests were
temperance work
and a
militant protestantism
. She
endowed two Calvinistic Methodist churches
,
Capel Rhyd-y-meirch
and
Aber-carn
, where services were to be conducted in
Welsh
[but with a liturgy based upon the
Book of Common Prayer
]. She
edited
the
Autobiography and Correspondence of Mrs. Delaney
in six volumes (
1861
and
1862
), and published a medley,
Good Cookery … and Recipes communicated by the Hermit of the Cell of St. Gover …
1867
, with illustrations by herself, and
coloured plates illustrating Welsh female costumes
(
c.
1843
). She survived her husband by over twenty-eight years and d.
17 Jan. 1896
.
Her only surviving child,
Augusta
, m.
12 Nov. 1846
,
Arthur
Jones
of
Llanarth
, of an old
Roman Catholic
family which later assumed the name of
Herbert
. Their son,
Major-General Sir
IVOR
HERBERT
(
1851
-
1934
), became
baron Treowen
in
1917
. He presented the
Llanover MSS.
to the
National Library of Wales
in
1916
.
Bibliography:
-
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography
;
-
John Lloyd
,
The early history of the old South Wales
Iron Works (1760 to 1840) from original documents
,
1906
,
1906
;
-
W. R. Williams
,
The History of the Parliamentary
Representation of Wales
, 1895
,
1895
;
-
The Cardiff Times
,
25 Jan. 1896
.
Author:
Emeritus Professor David Williams, D.Litt., (1900-78), Aberystwyth
