The Revere Bell was a gift to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

by Mrs. Maria Revere Balestier, the daughter of

Paul Revere Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, Sons of Liberty member, and Patriot and Founding Father. He is best known for his midnight ride to al ...

and wife of the first American Consul to Singapore,

Joseph Balestier Joseph Balestier (19 Mar 1788–12 Nov 1858), was a planter and merchant who was the first United States consul in Rhiau and in Singapore. In 1849, he was appointed Envoy and Diplomatic Agent of the United States to South Eastern Asia. Born in S ...

. Cast by the

Revere Copper Company The Revere Copper Company is a copper rolling mill in the United States. It operated North America's first copper rolling mill. It was started by Paul Revere in 1801 in Canton, Massachusetts, and developed a commercially viable process for manufac ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

, Massachusetts, it is the only Revere bell outside the United States. The bell is in height and in diameter with a clapper underneath. Maria Revere presented the bell to the first Church of St. Andrew in 1843 on condition that it be used to sound a

curfew A curfew is a government order specifying a time during which certain regulations apply. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to ''not'' be in public places or on roads within a certain time frame, typically in the evening and ...

for five minutes at 8:00 pm every night. The curfew bell rang until 1855 when the church was demolished, and was resumed when the second church (which became St. Andrew's Cathedral later) was constructed in its place in 1861 until it was permanently discontinued in 1874. On 6 February 1889, the Revere Bell was replaced by a new peal of bells presented by the family of Captain J. S. H. Fraser. The bell was put into storage until 1911, when it was installed in St. George's Garrison Church in Tanglin Barracks. However, after it became irreparably cracked it was moved to a Royal Engineers storeyard. The Raffles Museum, now the

National Museum of Singapore ms, Muzium Negara Singapura ta, சிங்கப்பூரின் தேசிய அருங்காட்சியகம் , native_name_lang = , logo = , image = 2016 Singapur, Museum Planning Area, Narodowe Muzeum Singapuru (02) ...

, learned of the bell in September 1937, and took custody of it after the Anglican Archdeacon of Singapore, Graham White, donated it to the museum. Since then the Revere Bell has been displayed the National Museum, apart from a period between January 1997 and May 2006 when the bell was loaned to the United States Embassy in Singapore while the museum was being renovated. During that time it was showcased behind velvet ropes in the foyer of the Embassy. The bell, now in the museum's Singapore History Gallery, has been called a symbol of the friendship between the peoples of Singapore and the United States. File:Revere Bell, National Museum of Singapore - 20150208-01.jpg, The Revere Bell on display at the

in February 2015. The inscription of the bell is: "Revere, Boston 1843. Presented to St Andrew's Church, Singapore, by Mrs Maria Revere Balestier of Boston, United States of America". File:Revere Bell, National Museum of Singapore - 20150208-02.jpg, Due to irreparable cracking of the bell ''(bottom right of the photograph)'', it was placed in storage until 1937 when it was donated to the Raffles Museum, now the National Museum of Singapore

See also

References

Further reading