Suvla Bay bell

  • Height  375 mm
  • Width  457 mm
  • Weight  66 kg
  • Note  B
Bell Inscription

Suvla Bay
In Memory of Henry Barnard and
Charles Valentine Barnard.
Given by their Mother,
Helena M. Barnard.

The Suvla Bay bell is one of eight in the Carillon which is named for the Gallipoli campaign. In particular, the name recalls the Sari Bair offensive, the August 1915 attempt to break through the Ottoman lines. The bell was given by Helena Barnard in memory of her sons, Henry and Charles, who died during the First World War, Henry at Gallipoli and Charles on the Western Front.

The Barnard family

Henry and Charles were among eight sons born to Helena and Henry Barnard. The Barnard family lived initially in Wellington before spending several years in the United States. Upon returning to New Zealand they settled in Eltham, Taranaki, where Henry worked as the secretary of the Eltham Dairy Company from 1905.

After war broke out in 1914, the family gave their full support to the war effort. Six of the family’s eight sons served while Helena devoted her time and energy to patriotic work. As president of the local Belgian Sewing Guild and the Soldier’s Comforts Fund, she raised funds and sent many care packages in aid of Belgium and New Zealand troops – including approximately 300 lbs (136 kg) of her famous home-made gingernut biscuits. She also spearheaded a fundraising effort to purchase an ambulance for the New Zealand forces overseas. She repeated much of this work again during the Second World War and became known as the ‘Gingernut Lady’. In 1946 she was awarded a British Empire Medal for her welfare work.

Henry Barnard

The Barnard’s second son, Henry, was born in Palmerston North in 1890. He studied law and was working as a law clerk for the Auckland solicitors Stewart and Johnston when war broke out in August 1914. He was among the first group of men to sign up for service in the following weeks and left New Zealand with the Main Body in October 1914.

Henry became a private with the Auckland Battalion and fought at Gallipoli. In June he was briefly hospitalised after receiving a minor head wound during a bayonet charge but quickly returned to the peninsula. On 12 August 1915, following the Battle of Chunuk Bair, Henry was killed by a sniper while trying to retrieve a wounded comrade. His body was never recovered. His name is among those listed on the New Zealand memorial to the missing at Chunuk Bair. 

Charles Valentine Barnard

The Barnards’ fifth son, Charles, was born in 1894 in California, during the years the family spent in the United States. He was living at Aramoho on the Whanganui River and working as a clerk for the Railways Department when he signed up in May 1915. He left New Zealand in October that year and after spending time in Egypt, where the New Zealand forces were based following the evacuation of Gallipoli, arrived on the Western Front in April 1916.

Charles served as a rifleman with the 3rd New Zealand Rifle Brigade, but also spent periods of time with the Divisional Signal Company and at signalling school. On 25 November 1917, while with his brigade in the Polygon sector south of Passchendaele, Belgium, Charles was killed in action. Like his elder brother, Charles’ body was lost after his death. He is remembered on the New Zealand memorial to the missing at Buttes New British Cemetery in Belgium.

Further information

Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph record – Henry Barnard

Commonwealth War Graves Commission record – Henry Barnard

Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph record – Charles Barnard

Commonwealth War Graves Commission record – Charles Barnard

'Personal items', Dominion, 30 August 1915, p. 5

'For Belgian relief', Dominion, 27 November 1915, p. 11

'Eltham', Hawera & Normanby Star, 17 August 1916, p. 8

'While doing their duty', Evening Post, 13 December 1917, p. 7

‘Mrs Barnard farewelled’, Hawera & Normanby Star, 4 February 1918, p. 8

'Presentation to Mrs Barnard', Taranaki Daily News, 5 February 1918, p. 3

'Personal', Stratford Evening Post, 5 February 1918, p. 5

'Fighting family', New Zealand Herald, 12 February 1918, p. 5

'Women in print', Evening Post, 8 May 1920, p. 10

'Gingernuts', Auckland Star, 24 June 1940, p. 11

'Central chancery of the orders of knighthood', London Gazette, 28 December 1945, supplement 37410, p. 164

The Kiwi: the Auckland University College magazine, August 1916, vol. 11, p. 18

Tauranga Memories: remembering war – John Barnard talks about his uncles

Was the real Anzac biscuit a gingernut? – Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision blog  

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