Following his popular "gallop" through a millennium of bell history during the Covid-19 Lockdowns, Alan Hughes returns to the Whitechapel series to shine a spotlight on the most transformative era in British bell founding.

Alan will concentrate on the changes that took place, predominantly in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries due in large part to the influences, and in one case intervention, of four individuals wholly unconnected with the bell founding industry: a printer, an inventor, a Peer of the Realm, and a clergyman. Each one of them has left a lasting mark upon the bells that we hear and those still being produced.

About the Speaker:

Alan was educated at Christ’s Hospital, where he was a Skinners’ Company Presentee.

On leaving school in 1966, Alan immediately joined the family bell founding business. He worked his way up through the company, working in the foundry, bell frame fabrication shop, blacksmiths shop, with the site working team and in the drawing office, whilst studying Foundry Technology at what is now the University of the South Bank (LSBU). He became a shareholder and was appointed a director in 1972, becoming the 4th generation of the Hughes family to own the Whitechapel Bell Foundry.

Alan joined the Founders Company in 2000. He has served on the Industry Committee and since 2019 has been Honorary Secretary of the Historical Group. Alan is the fourth owner of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry business to serve as Master of the Founders’ Company.

Alan has been happily married to Kathryn for 39 years, and they have worked together at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry for most of that time. They have two children, Jennifer who is a pianist and Lizzie who is an HR Manager, and three lovely grandchildren.