Walker’s Ridge bell

Walker’s Ridge bell

  • Height  813 mm
  • Width  1016 mm
  • Weight  602.5 kg
  • Note  G#
Bell Inscription

Walker’s Ridge
In Memory of Philip Gardiner Tattle.
Given by his Mother, Mary Ann Tattle.

This bell is dedicated to the memory of Philip Gardiner Tattle. Born in 1888, Philip was the son of George and Mary Ann Tattle. Prior to enlisting he was a schoolteacher at the Longbush School in Wairarapa. His father had been born in Wellington in 1842, one of the first Pākehā children born in the city, and worked for the Government Printing Office for over 40 years. His mother was an early feminist who was involved in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. She later purchased a house in Newtown, Wellington, for the Women’s National Reserve, to use as a residential nursery to care for children when their mothers were in Wellington Hospital.

Philip enlisted only a week after New Zealand’s entry into the war – he had already had military training in the Wellington City Cadets. He left New Zealand in October 1914 with the Main Body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force as a Lance Corporal with the Wellington Infantry Regiment. Their destination was initially unknown but they soon arrived in Egypt where they subsequently prepared for the Gallipoli campaign.

Philip was among those who participated in the Gallipoli landings in April 1915. He survived the first frantic few days but on 29 April was killed in action. Philip’s older brother Frederick received news of his brother’s death only a few hours before he himself departed New Zealand with the 5th Reinforcements. The years during and directly after the war continued to be difficult for the family: father George died in 1917, and another brother, Arthur, was killed in an aircraft accident at Mascot Aerodrome, Sydney, in 1920. 

The bell given by Philip’s mother is named 'Walker’s Ridge'. One of the ridgelines high above the Gallipoli beach, it was named after Brigadier-General Harold Walker, who took command of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade on the morning of the Gallipoli landings. (See a panorama of Walker's Ridge and historic photo of troops on Walker's Ridge). In addition to the bell in the Carillon, Philip is remembered at Lone Pine Memorial at Gallipoli, and on an obelisk erected to the family in the Bolton Street Cemetery.

Further information:

Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph record – Philip Gardner Tattle
Commonwealth War Graves Commission record – Philip Gardner Tattle

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