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GRIMTHORPE, EDMUND BECKETT, 1ST BARON...

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 604 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GRIMTHORPE, See also:EDMUND BECKETT, 1ST See also:BARON (1816–1905) , son of See also:Sir Edmund Beckett See also:Denison, was See also:born on the 12th of May 1816. He was educated at See also:Doncaster and See also:Eton, whence he proceeded to Trinity See also:College, See also:Cambridge, and graduated thirtieth wrangler in 1838. He was called to the See also:bar at See also:Lincoln's See also:Inn in 1841. Upon succeeding to the baronetcy in 1874 he dropped the name of Denison, which his See also:father had assumed in 1816. From 1877 to 1900 he was See also:chancellor and See also:vicar-See also:general of See also:York, and he was raised to the See also:peerage in 1886. He was made a Q.C. in 1854, and was for many years a See also:leader of the See also:Parliamentary Bar. He devoted himself to the study of See also:astronomy, horology and See also:architecture, more especially See also:Gothic ecclesiastical architecture. As See also:early as 1850 he had become a recognized authority on clocks, watches and bells, and in particular on the construction of See also:turret clocks, for he had designed Dent's See also:Great See also:Exhibition See also:clock, and his Rudimentary See also:Treatise had gone through many See also:editions. In 1851 he was called upon, in See also:conjunction with the astronomer royal (Mr, afterwards Sir, G. B. See also:Airy) and Mr Dent, to See also:design a suitable clock for the new Houses of See also:Parliament. The See also:present See also:tower clock, popularly known as " Big See also:Ben," was constructed after See also:Lord Grimthorpe's designs.

In a number of burning questions during his See also:

time Lord Grimthorpe took a prominent See also:part. It is, however, in connexion with the restoration of St Albans See also:Abbey that he is most widely known. The St Albans Abbey Reparation See also:Committee, which had been in existence since 1871, and for which Sir See also:Gilbert See also:Scott had carried out some admirable See also:repairs, obtained a See also:faculty from the Diocesan See also:Court in 1877 to repair and restore the See also:church and See also:fit it for See also:cathedral and parochial services. Very soon, however, the committee found itself unable to raise the necessary funds, and it was at this juncture that a new faculty was granted to Lord Grimthorpe (then Sir Edmund Beckett) to " restore, repair and refit " the abbey at his own expense. Lord Grimthorpe made it an See also:express stipulation that the See also:work should be done according to his own designs and under his own supervision. His public spirit in undertaking the task was undeniable, but his treatment of the roof, the new See also:west front, and the windows inserted in the terminations of the transepts, excited a See also:storm of adverse See also:criticism, and was the subject of vigorous protests from the professional See also:world of architecture. He died on the 29th of See also:April 1905, being succeeded as 2nd baron by his See also:nephew, E. W. Beckett (b. 1856), who had sat in parliament as conservative member for the See also:Whitby See also:division of See also:Yorkshire from 1885.

End of Article: GRIMTHORPE, EDMUND BECKETT, 1ST BARON (1816–1905)

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