The Messines bell (42)
In 1919, when the government approved the construction of a National War Memorial, the form it would take was unknown. Three years later P.N. Denton, of W. Littlejohn and Co., Wellington jewellers and opticians, wrote to the Prime Minister William Massey and suggested a war memorial carillon – a musical instrument made up of large bells.
Although the government did not favour this proposal, the idea of a musical memorial appealed to many prominent locals and in 1926 the Wellington War Memorial Carillon Society was formed to work towards the construction of a carillon. That year the Society offered citizens the opportunity to purchase one of 49 bells as a memorial to a loved one who had died in the war. The scheme proved popular and within a week all the bells had been subscribed to. The following year, despite not having a campanile in which to hang the bells nor the money to build one, the Society arranged for the bells to be cast.
In 1928, the Society offered the bells to the government and suggested they could form a National War Memorial at Mount Cook, Wellington. Together the bells would form a carillon housed in a bell tower, or campanile. The government agreed and four years later, on Anzac Day 1932, the 50-metre-high carillon was dedicated and ‘the music of the bells drifted over the city borne on a southerly breeze.’ [1]
Each bell bears a name or inscription in memory of those to whom they were dedicated. A sub-committee of the Carillon Society carried out the work of naming the bells and drawing up the list of inscriptions. Of the original 49 bells, 33 were dedicated to individuals while the remainder carried the names of battles, military units or other groups. Twenty-five bells have since been added to the Carillon, including four large bells donated in 1995 to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, bringing the total number of bells to 74.
The original 49
Further information, including the stories behind these 49 bells, will be added in the coming months
Bell No. | Note | Diameter (cms) | Height (cms) | Weight (kgs) | Inscription |
1 | G# | 17.5 | 14 | 4 | Delville Wood In Memory of Alfred Meliss Stuart. Given by his Mother. |
2 | G | 17.46 | 14.6 | 4.53 | Gaizencourt In Memory of Percy William Skelley. Given by Agnes Salmond Skelley and Claude H.T. Skelley. |
3 | F# | 17.78 | 15.24 | 5 | Armentieres In Memory of Robert John Cook. Given by Susan Cook. |
4 | F | 19.05 | 15.24 | 5 | Mametz In Memory of Walter Anderson Holmes. Given by his Family. |
5 | E | 18.42 | 15.88 | 5 | Hill 60 In Memory of Roland Leslie Ward. Given by his Mother, Joan E. Ward. |
6 | D# | 19.05 | 16.51 | 5 | Flers In Memory of Ian Compton Clark and John Compton Keasberry. Given by Louisa Elizabeth Clark and Annie and Cecil Keasberry. |
7 | D | 20.32 | 17.15 | 5.44 | Bapaume In Memory of James Brian Anderson. Given by his Aunt, Anne Anderson. |
8 | C# | 21.6 | 17.78 | 7.26 | Longueval In Memory of Hugh Collins. Given by his Father, Andrew Collins. |
9 | C | 22.86 | 18.42 | 9.07 | Havrincourt In Memory of George Albert Johnson. Given by Annie Ethel and Flora Christina Johnson. |
10 | B | 24.13 | 19.69 | 9.97 | Couin In Memory of Laurence Harvey Butler. Given by his Mother. |
11 | A# | 25.4 | 20.96 | 11.34 | Bellevue In Memory of George William Nias. Given by his Mother. |
12 | A | 26.67 | 22.23 | 14.06 | Anneux In Memory of John Dale Bennett. Given by his Parents. |
13 | G# | 27.94 | 24.13 | 16.33 | Beaumont Hamel In Memory of Kenneth Owen De Cent and Hugh Edward Wood. Given by Norman Gordon De Cent and Marjorie L.F. De Cent. |
14 | G | 30.48 | 26 | 21.32 | High Wood In Memory of Frederick Arthur Allen. Given by his Parents. |
15 | F# | 33 | 27.94 | 26.76 | Rongomai In Memory of Cecil Ernest Webb and Arthur Llewellyn Webb. Given by Relatives. |
16 | F | 34.29 | 28.58 | 30.39 | Hebuterne In Memory of Raymond Shirley McHardie, Clarence Vivian McHardie, and Cyril James McHardie. Given by their Father, James McHardie. |
17 | E | 36.83 | 29.85 | 37.65 | [Untitled] In Memory of Watkin Eldridge Lewis, Tom Eldridge Lewis, and Samuel Eldridge Lewis. Given by their Sisters and Brothers. |
18 | D# | 38.74 | 31.75 | 44.45 | Chunuk Bair In Memory of Roy Wilson Lambert. Given by his Sisters and Brothers. |
19 | D | 40.64 | 33 | 45.81 | Cambrai In Memory of George Simpson. Given by his Father, William James Simpson and Family. |
20 | C# | 41.91 | 34.29 | 53.52 | Krithia In Memory of Ateo Frandi. Given by his Sister. |
21 | C | 43.18 | 35.56 | 54.88 | Fricourt In Memory of Percy George Alfred Talbot. Given by his Mother, Mary Talbot. |
22 | B | 45.72 | 37.47 | 65.77 | Suvla Bay In Memory of Henry Barnard and Charles Valentine Barnard. Given by his Mother, Helena M. Barnard. |
23 | A# | 48.25 | 38.74 | 74.39 | Baghdad In Memory of Charles Cyril Pontin Tanner. Given by his Sisters, Dorothy Tanner and Gwyneth Laird. |
24 | A | 50.8 | 41.28 | 86.64 | Ypres In Memory of George Foden Rooking Hall. Given by George A.H. Hall and Family. |
25 | G# | 53.34 | 43.82 | 102.97 | Codford In Memory of Garfield Alexander Warin and Nurse Kathleen Mary Hollis. Given by James Gordon Finlay. |
26 | G | 55.88 | 46.36 | 129.27 | Mahara In Memory of Frederick Francis Marshall, and Albert Gerard Marshall. Given by their Parents, Frank and May Marshall. |
27 | F# | 60.96 | 50.17 | 147.42 | La Vacquerie In Memory of William Darcy Davies. Given by Margaret Davies. |
28 | F | 64.14 | 52.07 | 181.89 | La Bassee In Memory of William Trenton Doughty. Given by his Mother. |
29 | E | 68.6 | 56.52 | 219.01 | Wellington’s South African War Veterans’ Bell |
30 | D# | 71.12 | 57.79 | 231.79 | Abraham Heights In Memory of Edward (Ted) Levy. Given by his Mother, Frances Levy. |
31 | D | 73.66 | 59.69 | 252.65 | The New Zealand Permanent Forces Bell Dedicated to the Memory of all Officers, Warrant Officers, N.C.o.’s and Men of the The New Zealand Permanent Military Forces Who gave their Lives for the Empire. 1914-18. |
32 | C# | 76.2 | 62.87 | 266.71 | Vailima In Memory of Officers, N.C.O.’s and Men of the 5th (Wellington) Regt. Who fell in the Great War, 1914-18. ‘Virtutis Fortuna Comes’ |
33 | C | 79.38 | 63.5 | 302.1 | Ubique ‘D’ Battery. 1867-1921. |
34 | B | 85.09 | 68.58 | 366 | Le Quesnoy (Badge of N.Z. Rifle Brigade) |
35 | A# | 88.9 | 71.12 | 416.86 | The Nurses’ Bell (N.Z. Army Nursing Service Symbol) Dedicated to the New Zealand Nurses and V.A.D.’s who made the Supreme Sacrifice in the Great War, 1914-18. By the New Zealand Nurses. |
36 | A | 95.25 | 76.2 | 516.19 | (Special Medical Service Symbol) To the Glorious Memory of the Wellington Officers and Men of the Medical Service Who fell in the Great War, 1914-18. ‘Allis Succurrendo Perierunt Ipsi’ |
37 | G# | 101.6 | 81.28 | 602.37 | Walker’s Ridge In Memory of Philip Gardiner Tattle. Given by his Mother, Mary Ann Tattle. |
38 | G | 106.68 | 86.36 | 732 | Sari Bair In Memory of Francis Davison and Mathew Holmes. Given by their Father-in-law, Herbert P. Rawson. |
39 | F# | 113 | 91.44 | 865 | Gallipoli 1915 Given by Residents of Lyall Bay, Brooklyn, Mornington, Vogeltown, and Hataitai. |
40 | F | 119.38 | 96.52 | 1078.19 | In Memory of the Men of the Hutt Valley Who gave their lives in the Great War, 1914-18 |
41 | E | 127 | 104.14 | 1268.7 | Flanders Fields In Ever Loving Remembrance of Leslie Heron [Beauchamp], Only Son of Harold and Annie Burnell Beauchamp. |
42 | D# | 134.62 | 109.22 | 1459.21 | Messines To the Memory of the Members of the Government Departments in Wellington, who lost their lives in the Great War, 1914-18. ‘We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved: and now we lie In Flanders fields.’ - MacRae. Presented by Officers of the Government Departments in Wellington. |
43 | D | 142.24 | 116.84 | 1708.23 | My Name is The Seven Seas Cherish me as a Tribute to the British Mercantile Marine, 1914-18. ‘If blood be the price of admiralty, Lord God, we ha’ paid in full.’ - Kipling ‘Lights are bright and all’s well.’ |
44 | C# | 152.4 | 124.46 | 2040.26 | Jutland (Arms of Royal Navy) To the Glory of God and to the Royal Navy, 1914-18. ‘The sea is our Life.’ - Jellicoe. Given by Proprietors Evening Post. |
45 | C | 160 | 132.08 | 2447.58 | Passchendaele In Memory of Cyril Ivan Brown and his Mother. Presented by his Father, William Brown. |
46 | B | 170.18 | 139.7 | 3005.5 | Palestine To the Glorious Memory of The New Zealand Mounted Rifles Sinai-Palestine, 1916-18. ‘Nothing daunted these intrepid fighters; to them nothing was impossible.’ - Edmund H.H. Allenby, Field-Marshal. Given by Associated Contributors. |
47 | A# | 180.34 | 149.86 | 3176.96 | ANZAC To the Glorious Memory of The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, Gallipoli, 191[5]. ‘The troops had performed a feat which is without parallel.’ - W.B. Birdwood, Lieut.-General. Given by Wellington Business Houses. |
48 | A | 190.5 | 154.94 | 4143.57 | The Somme To the Glorious Memory of The New Zealand Division, 1916-18. ‘Its Record does honour to the land from which it came and to the Empire for which it fought.’ - D. Haig, Field-Marshal. Given by Citizens. |
49 | G# | 203.2 | 165.1 | 5048 | Reo Wairua To the Glory of God and in Memory of the 1700 Men of Wellington City and Suburbs Who gave their lives in the Great War, 1914-18. ‘Ana! He Tangi Aroha.’ Given by Louis Proctor Blundell and Annie Elizabeth Blundell. |
Four additional bells
In 1995, to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, four large bells were added to the Carillon.
Bell No. | Note | Diameter (cms) | Height (cms) | Weight (kgs) | Inscription |
50 | G | 214.5 | - | 6458 | Grace (Aroha) Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring out the false, ring in the true, Ring out the grief that saps the mind, Ring in redress to all mankind. Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace.’ - Tennyson, In Memoriam To the Glory of God This bell is dedicated in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War Two. Anno Domini 1995. |
51 | F# | 227.3 | - | 7904 | Hope (Tūmanako) O weep, child, weep, o weep away the stain, Lost innocence who wished your lover dead, Weep for the lives your wishes never led. O law drummed out by hearts against the still Long winter of our intellectual will. That what has been may never be again. - Auden, Hymn to St. Cecilia To the Glory of God This bell is dedicated in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War Two. Anno Domini 1995. |
52 | F | 240.3 | - | 9278 | Remembrance (Whakamaharatanga) No man is an island entire of itself; Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. Therefore never send to know For whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. - Donne, Meditation XVII. To the Glory of God This bell is dedicated in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War Two. Anno Domini 1995. |
53 | D | 272 | - | 12475 | Peace (Rangimārie) To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite; To forgive wrongs darker than death or night; To defy Power, which seems omnipotent; To love, and bear; to hope till Hope creates From its own wreck the thing it contemplates; Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent; This, like thy glory, Titan, is to be Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free; This is alone Life, Joy, Empire and Victory. - Shelley, Prometheus Unbound To the Glory of God This bell is dedicated in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War Two and with thanksgiving to the people of New Zealand for their service and sacrifice. By Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Second. Anno Domini 1995. |
For further information see: https://mch.govt.nz/pukeahu/park/national-war-memorial/carillon
How to cite this page
'Bells of remembrance', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/bells-of-remembrance, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 30-May-2018