Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cabbell, Benjamin Bond
CABBELL, BENJAMIN BOND (1781–1874), patron of art, fourth son of George Cabbell, apothecary, of 17 Wigmore Street, London, by Mary, daughter of Thomas Bliss, astronomer royal, was born in Vere Street, London, in 1781, educated at Westminster School, and matriculated from Oriel College, Oxford, 19 June 1800, ‘aqed 17;’ thence he matriculated to Exeter College on 25 Feb. 1801, left the university in 1803 without a degree. He was called to the bar, at the Middle Temple, 9 Feb. 1818, when he went the Western and Somerset circuits. In 1850 he became bencher of his inn. On 11 Aug. 1848 he entered parliament, in the conservative interest, as member for St. Albans, and in the following year, on 11 July, was returned for Boston, which he represented till 21 March 1857. He was a staunch supporter of protestant principles, and was in favour of very great alterations in the then existing poor laws; he opposed the grant to Maynooth, and, according to Dod's ‘Parliamentary Companion,' ‘was anxious to promote the improvement of the social, moral, and mental condition of the industrious classes’
Cabbell was elected a. fellow of the Royal Society 19 Jan. 1837, was a magistrate for Norfolk, Middlesex, and Westminster, and served as high sheriff for the first-named county in 1854. He was president of the City of London General Pension Society, a vice-president of the Royal Literary Fund, treasurer to the Lock Hospital, and sub-treasurer to the Infant Orphan Asylum. He was also a zealous and influential mason, a trustee of the Royal Masonic Institution, and grand master of the freemasons of Norfolk. His country residence was at Cromer Hall, Norfolk, and to Cromer and its neighbourhood he was a munificent benefactor ,having defrayed the cost of building a lifeboat for the town, besides presenting a considerable piece of land for the purposes of a cemetery.
He was widely known as an art patron. He became a member of the Artists’ Benevolent Fund, 1824, aided in obtaining n charter of incorporation for the society in 1827, and contributed 20l. towards the preliminary expenses. He died at 39 Chapel Street, Marylebone Road, London, 9 Dec. 1874, in his 94th year.
[Solicitor’s Journal, 19 Dec. 1874, p. 128; Law Times, 19 Dec. 1874, p. 124; Pye's Patronage of British Art, 1845, pp. 358, 365, with portrait; Times, 11 Dec. 1874, p. 10.]