Autograph letter signed by Benjamin Hall, Baron Llanover to Charles Manby 1861

Benjamin Hall, 1st Baron Llanover (1802-1867). Autograph Letter Signed to the engineer Charles Manby concerning the proposed statue of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. 19 April 1861.
 
Single sheet folded to make four pages, 115 x 185 mm, written on all four sides. One central fold as issued, otherwise very good.
 
Letter signed "Llanover" and addressed to the civil engineer Charles Manby. Hall writes regarding Lord Shelburne's wish to press ahead with the proposed public statue of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, discussing funding for the memorial and suggesting a meeting to advance the project. On the final page Manby has added a contemporary manuscript summary in his own hand, noting Lord Shelburne's anxiety that the scheme should proceed, that "there was no fear of money not being forthcoming", and recording that Tuesday had been fixed for an interview.
 
Benjamin Hall (1802-1867), later 1st Baron Llanover, was a prominent Liberal politician who served as First Commissioner of Works and later as Chief Commissioner of Public Works. He is widely remembered for overseeing the installation of the Great Bell in the Palace of Westminster, popularly known as Big Ben, a nickname often associated with Hall himself. Charles Manby (1804-1884) was one of Britain's leading civil engineers, serving for many years as Secretary of the Institution of Civil Engineers and maintaining close relationships with many of the foremost engineers of the Victorian age, including Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Written only eighteen months after Brunel's death in 1859, the letter relates to early efforts to establish a public memorial to one of Britain's greatest engineers.