---
title: "Which came first, Big Ben or the telephone?"
description: "Big Ben vs the telephone: Big Ben came first, by 17 years — 1859 against 1876. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/big-ben-vs-telephone/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, Big Ben or the telephone?

**Which came first, Big Ben or the telephone?: Big Ben**

1859 — 17 years before the telephone

Big Ben came first, by 17 years. The great bell rang for the first time.

## Side by side

|  | Big Ben | the telephone |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1859 | 1876 |
| Date | 1859-07-11 | 1876-03-07 |
| Category | landmark | invention |
| What happened | The great bell rang for the first time. | Bell was granted US patent 174,465. |

## Big Ben

Big Ben is the bell, not the tower and not the clock. It first rang in July 1859, cracked within two months, and has rung with that crack ever since — which is why it has its particular sound. The tower was called the Clock Tower until 2012, when it was renamed Elizabeth Tower for the Diamond Jubilee.

## the telephone

Bell's patent was granted on 7 March 1876 and he made the famous call to Watson three days later. Elisha Gray filed a caveat for a similar device on the same day in February that Bell filed his application, and the priority dispute has never entirely gone away. Antonio Meucci had demonstrated a working voice telegraph in New York in 1860 but could not afford to renew his caveat.

## Common questions

### Which came first, Big Ben or the telephone?

Big Ben, by 17 years — 1859 against 1876.

### When did Big Ben start?

1859. The great bell rang for the first time.

### When did the telephone start?

1876. Bell was granted US patent 174,465.

## Related pages

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- [Big Ben or the Eiffel Tower?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/big-ben-vs-eiffel-tower/)
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- [the Eiffel Tower or the telephone?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/eiffel-tower-vs-telephone/)
- [Germany or the telephone?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/germany-vs-telephone/)
- [the hamburger or the telephone?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/hamburger-vs-telephone/)
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- [photography or the telephone?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/photograph-vs-telephone/)
- [the fax machine or the telephone?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/fax-machine-vs-telephone/)

## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]
- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Smithsonian Institution (https://naturalhistory.si.edu/)