Which London foundry cast the Liberty Bell for Pennsylvania in the eighteenth century?

The Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the Liberty Bell for Pennsylvania in the eighteenth century.

The London business, then operating under the name Lester and Pack, cast the bell in 1752. Pennsylvania commissioned it to mark the fiftieth anniversary of William Penn’s 1701 Charter of Privileges, an important early Pennsylvania constitutional document.

The bell was shipped across the Atlantic and later became associated with American independence. Its famous inscription, drawn from Leviticus, calls for liberty throughout the land. The bell cracked during an early ringing and was recast in Philadelphia, but its London origin is often overlooked.

The Whitechapel foundry is also associated with Big Ben, which it cast in 1858. That connection can cause confusion because Big Ben is much larger and later. The Whitechapel Bell Foundry closed its historic premises in London in 2017 after centuries of bell making.