RA Collection: People and Organisations
He was created Baron Grimthorpe in 1886. He is sometimes known as Edmund Beckett Denison; his father had taken the additional name Denison in 1816, but the son dropped it on his father’s death in 1874. He married Fanny Catherine (1823-1901), daughter of John Lonsdale, 89th Bishop of Lichfield.
In 1851, he designed the mechanism for the clock of the Palace of Westminster, (the Houses of Parliament in London), responsible for the chimes of Big Ben.
In 1868 he worked with W. H. Crossland to design St Chad’s Church, Far Headingley in Leeds on land given by his family.
He was also responsible throughout the 1880s and 1890s for rebuilding the west front, roof, and transept windows of St Albans Cathedral at his own expense. He died on 29 April 1905 after a fall, and is buried in the grounds of St Albans Cathedral.
Born: 12 May 1816 in Nottinghamshire
Died: 29 April 1905
Gender: Male