1894 Brewer’s / B / Ben (a theatrical word)
Benefit. “A big ben,” a good or bumping benefit.
Big Ben of Westminster. A name given to the large bell, which weighs 13 tons 10 cwt., and is named after Sir Benjamin Hall, the Chief Commissioner of Works when the bell was cast. (1856.)
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.