December 2017 – Ypres Bell Update

 
Thanks to some sterling detective work from George Dawson and Chris Pickford, archivists at the Loughborough Bell Foundry, we have tracked down the origin of the North Queensferry “Ypres Bell.” It was cast by Mears & Stainbank, Whitechapel, London.

Here is the entry from the foundry daybook for 31 March 1926.

Sadly the Whitechapel Bell Foundry closed in December 2016. It was Britain’s oldest manufacturing firm.

The Whitechapel Bell Foundry; a curfew tolls…

The bell cost £18 5s 0d; the inscription added £1 13s 0d and carriage to Edinburgh was 13/6d
Total cost of £20 11s 6d.

This is the equivalent of £1150 in 2017.

It was delivered via Alder and Mackay Ltd., New Grange Works, Stewart Terrace, Edinburgh.

Alder and Mackay were manufacturers of pre-paid gas meters, (presumably one of their engineers had arranged to install the bell).