William R. Bell
Encyclopedia
William Robert Bell was an Australian-born official in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate
, who served as the District Officer of Malaita
from 1915 until 1927. He was killed while collecting a head tax from the Kwaio
of central Malaita. His death set off the Malaita massacre
, in which several other colonial officials were killed in a Kwaio attack, which led to a punitive expedition
in which many Kwaio were killed or incarcerated in retaliation.
district of Gippsland
region of Victoria
, Australia, the third son of a migrant from Whaddon (Cambridgeshire)
in a family with fifteen children. He was raised by his aunt, but maintained close ties to his father's family nearby. He left school at age fourteen to assist with the family farm work at Tanjil South. He was an excellent athlete, and talented at cricket
.
Along with his older brother George (later The Hon Sir George), he enlisted to fight in the Second Boer War
in 1899. He served in the 2nd Victorian Mounted Rifles, and participated in the fighting at the Black Reef mine in the Witwatersrand
. Returning to the farm after the war, his right hand was accidentally impaled with a pitchfork, necessitating a surgical removed of part of the palm and some fingers. Later he claimed the wound to have been the result of his war experience. The injury prevented him from participating in World War I
, and pursuing a military career as several of his brothers did.
In 1901 or 1902, he left Australia to go to Fiji
. His first job was on Mango. Later he worked for Brown and Joske, and served as an accountant and later a recruiting agent. Afterwards, he found work as a Government Agent aboard the schooner Clansman, which was involved in the labour trade bringing Solomon Islanders to Fiji. When this recruiting ceased in 1911, he found work in the Solomon Administration's Department of Labour. In his work, he supported the rights and interests of the native people against the exploitative plantation industry, and sought consistent enforcement rules and regulations.
ing, and he tried to arrest murderers before they could be killed by family members of the victims in revenge, or ramo
s (professional killers) seeking proffered blood money. Early in his work, the Acting Resident Commissioner in Tulagi
, F.J. Barnett, warned Bell about the dangers of punitive expeditions and interference in native affairs, and fired Bell who sought to have him forced from government work due to his obstinacy on this point. Bell was reinstated, and Barnett left soon afterward, and the new Resident Commissioner Charles Rufus Marshall Workman was much more supportive of his work and recommended he be confirmed as District Officer.
By 1918, Bell had acquired a respect among the Malaitans that no European had ever had, especially in northern areas and those near the coast. Though most of the mountainous interior and the eastern coast remained defiant, he was increasingly viewed as having the characteristics of a Malaitan strongman, and an aura of supernatural power. However, Bell himself was soon drawn into the blood feuding: relatives of criminals he had arrested who were later tried and hanged offered bounties for his death. Later, in his dealings with the adversaries, Bell became increasingly overbearing and aggressive, and was prone to intimidation and, when he lost his temper, violence to establish personal dominance.
He replaced most of his constabulary, previously largely from the Western Solomons or even Tanna, with Malaitans familiar with local custom and more likely to be taken seriously by strongmen, but who were strongly loyal to him and devoted to duty. He looked ahead to the advantages law and order would provide, in infrastructure, sanitation, and economic development. He continued to be critical of plantation interests, and found many missionaries hypocritical and set on destroying a cultural heritage they did not understand.
In 1920 the protectorate authorities decided to introduce an annual native head tax, in order to raise revenue and encourage natives to adopt a wage labour system and a cash economy. Bell, who was strongly opposed to such a tax because of the scarcity of currency on the island and the idea that it would interfere with his efforts to disarm and pacify the island, managed to delay the imposition of the tax on Malaita until 1923, and have its rate substantially lower than on other islands. He collected the first round of taxes in late 1923 and early 1924, gathering a little more than £3,000. He sought a furlough
following the tax collection, and went off for nine months to attend to his worsening sciatica
and other health issues.
Bell returned to Malaita in April 1925, and immediately set out to finish the annual tax collection, which had been started in his absence. In that year, he found a great deal of resentment about the tax, exacerbated from a speech the Resident Commissioner R.R. Kane had made in his absence, extolling the benefits that government had brought. In truth, Malaitans had little to show in government expenditures, and Bell pressed the protectorate authorities to provide a Medical Officer and other return for the tax money. The 1925 tax collection was the most contentious, and in backing from direct confrontation, he strengthened the position of those promoting defiance. The 1926 collection, though resentment seethed, did not have any serious confrontations. However, for the 1927 round, Bell planned to confiscate the remaining rifles as well, encouraging defiance.
, planned an attack on Bell and his party when they came for the tax collection. They attempted to recruit plotters by advancing their grievances against Bell and the government, especially the empowerment of Christian coastal groups that were seen to dishonour their ancestors. Word of the plot spread across the island, and Bell and his police were warned well in advance. However, understanding local mores, Bell decided the best approach was to make a show of strength, and thereby command the respect of the locals and achieve their compliance. Collecting taxes offshore or calling residents up one by one, as some of his deputies urged, would reveal weakness.
On Monday 3 October 1927 Bell moored his ship the Auki in Singalagu harbour, and set up the usual tax collection operation at the house in the glen nearby. At dawn on Tuesday, Basiana and the other warriors made their way to the tax collection site. When the warriors arrived, Bell announced his peaceful intentions and invited them to pay their taxes. Basiana paid his tax first and went back to the edge of the clearing where his pouch was. Then he took the barrel of his rifle, concealed it between his arm and body, and slipped back into the line. He worked his way to the front of the line, and while Bell was writing on the tax roll, he took the rifle, raised it high and smashed it into his skull with such force that Bell's head virtually exploded. His death became the first of the Malaita massacre
, which ultimately took the lives of nearly 100 people, in both the attack and a retributive raid, and had serious consequences for Kwaio society.
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
, who served as the District Officer of Malaita
Malaita
Malaita is the largest island of the Malaita Province in the Solomon Islands. A tropical and mountainous island, Malaita's pristine river systems and tropical forests have not been exploited. Malaita is the most populous island of the Solomon Islands, with 140,000 people or more than a third of the...
from 1915 until 1927. He was killed while collecting a head tax from the Kwaio
Kwaio
Kwaio is an ethnic group found in central Malaita, in the Solomon Islands. According to Ethnologue, they numbered 13,249 in 1999. Much of what is known about the Kwaio is due to the work of the Marxian anthropologist Roger M...
of central Malaita. His death set off the Malaita massacre
Malaita massacre
The Malaita massacre inflicted a large number of deaths on the island of Malaita in the Solomon Islands in late 1927. William R. Bell, the District Officer of Malaita in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, and many of his deputies were killed by Basiana and other Kwaio warriors as part of a...
, in which several other colonial officials were killed in a Kwaio attack, which led to a punitive expedition
Punitive expedition
A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a state or any group of persons outside the borders of the punishing state. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavior, but may be also be a covered revenge...
in which many Kwaio were killed or incarcerated in retaliation.
Early life
Bell was born in MaffraMaffra, Victoria
Maffra is a town in Victoria, Australia, 220 km east of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Wellington local government area. It relies mainly on dairy farming and other agriculture, and is the site of one of Murray-Goulburn Cooperative's eight processing plants in Victoria...
district of Gippsland
Gippsland
Gippsland is a large rural region in Victoria, Australia. It begins immediately east of the suburbs of Melbourne and stretches to the New South Wales border, lying between the Great Dividing Range to the north and Bass Strait to the south...
region of Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, Australia, the third son of a migrant from Whaddon (Cambridgeshire)
Whaddon, Cambridgeshire
Whaddon is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, north of Royston.-History:The parish of Whaddon covers an area of . Its entire western boundary follows the Roman Ermine Street , separating it from Bassingbourn and Wendy, and its northern border follows the River Cam,...
in a family with fifteen children. He was raised by his aunt, but maintained close ties to his father's family nearby. He left school at age fourteen to assist with the family farm work at Tanjil South. He was an excellent athlete, and talented at cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
.
Along with his older brother George (later The Hon Sir George), he enlisted to fight in the Second Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
in 1899. He served in the 2nd Victorian Mounted Rifles, and participated in the fighting at the Black Reef mine in the Witwatersrand
Witwatersrand
The Witwatersrand is a low, sedimentary range of hills, at an elevation of 1700–1800 metres above sea-level, which runs in an east-west direction through Gauteng in South Africa. The word in Afrikaans means "the ridge of white waters". Geologically it is complex, but the principal formations...
. Returning to the farm after the war, his right hand was accidentally impaled with a pitchfork, necessitating a surgical removed of part of the palm and some fingers. Later he claimed the wound to have been the result of his war experience. The injury prevented him from participating in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and pursuing a military career as several of his brothers did.
In 1901 or 1902, he left Australia to go to Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
. His first job was on Mango. Later he worked for Brown and Joske, and served as an accountant and later a recruiting agent. Afterwards, he found work as a Government Agent aboard the schooner Clansman, which was involved in the labour trade bringing Solomon Islanders to Fiji. When this recruiting ceased in 1911, he found work in the Solomon Administration's Department of Labour. In his work, he supported the rights and interests of the native people against the exploitative plantation industry, and sought consistent enforcement rules and regulations.
District Officer
When World War I broke out, many colonial officials went to serve on the war front, and in October 1915 Bell was asked to assume the post of Acting District Officer of Malaita, which he accepted with reluctance. He began by noting that the largest hindrance to peace and the rule of law on the island was the endemic blood feudBlood Feud
"Blood Feud" is the twenty-second and final episode of The Simpsons second season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on July 11, 1991. In the episode, Mr. Burns falls ill and desperately needs a blood transfusion. Homer discovers Bart has Burns' rare blood type and urges...
ing, and he tried to arrest murderers before they could be killed by family members of the victims in revenge, or ramo
Ramo
A ramo was a warrior-leader among certain tribes on Malaita in the Solomon Islands. A ramo was recognized when he had killed an adversary in personal combat, and established an intimidating reputation...
s (professional killers) seeking proffered blood money. Early in his work, the Acting Resident Commissioner in Tulagi
Tulagi
Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida Island. The town of the same name on the island Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island (5.5 km by 1 km) in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida...
, F.J. Barnett, warned Bell about the dangers of punitive expeditions and interference in native affairs, and fired Bell who sought to have him forced from government work due to his obstinacy on this point. Bell was reinstated, and Barnett left soon afterward, and the new Resident Commissioner Charles Rufus Marshall Workman was much more supportive of his work and recommended he be confirmed as District Officer.
By 1918, Bell had acquired a respect among the Malaitans that no European had ever had, especially in northern areas and those near the coast. Though most of the mountainous interior and the eastern coast remained defiant, he was increasingly viewed as having the characteristics of a Malaitan strongman, and an aura of supernatural power. However, Bell himself was soon drawn into the blood feuding: relatives of criminals he had arrested who were later tried and hanged offered bounties for his death. Later, in his dealings with the adversaries, Bell became increasingly overbearing and aggressive, and was prone to intimidation and, when he lost his temper, violence to establish personal dominance.
He replaced most of his constabulary, previously largely from the Western Solomons or even Tanna, with Malaitans familiar with local custom and more likely to be taken seriously by strongmen, but who were strongly loyal to him and devoted to duty. He looked ahead to the advantages law and order would provide, in infrastructure, sanitation, and economic development. He continued to be critical of plantation interests, and found many missionaries hypocritical and set on destroying a cultural heritage they did not understand.
In 1920 the protectorate authorities decided to introduce an annual native head tax, in order to raise revenue and encourage natives to adopt a wage labour system and a cash economy. Bell, who was strongly opposed to such a tax because of the scarcity of currency on the island and the idea that it would interfere with his efforts to disarm and pacify the island, managed to delay the imposition of the tax on Malaita until 1923, and have its rate substantially lower than on other islands. He collected the first round of taxes in late 1923 and early 1924, gathering a little more than £3,000. He sought a furlough
Furlough
In the United States a furlough is a temporary unpaid leave of some employees due to special needs of a company, which may be due to economic conditions at the specific employer or in the economy as a whole...
following the tax collection, and went off for nine months to attend to his worsening sciatica
Sciatica
Sciatica is a set of symptoms including pain that may be caused by general compression or irritation of one of five spinal nerve roots that give rise to each sciatic nerve, or by compression or irritation of the left or right or both sciatic nerves. The pain is felt in the lower back, buttock, or...
and other health issues.
Bell returned to Malaita in April 1925, and immediately set out to finish the annual tax collection, which had been started in his absence. In that year, he found a great deal of resentment about the tax, exacerbated from a speech the Resident Commissioner R.R. Kane had made in his absence, extolling the benefits that government had brought. In truth, Malaitans had little to show in government expenditures, and Bell pressed the protectorate authorities to provide a Medical Officer and other return for the tax money. The 1925 tax collection was the most contentious, and in backing from direct confrontation, he strengthened the position of those promoting defiance. The 1926 collection, though resentment seethed, did not have any serious confrontations. However, for the 1927 round, Bell planned to confiscate the remaining rifles as well, encouraging defiance.
Death
In the course of tax collection in 1925, a plot to kill Bell was hatched by a Baegu in the northeast of Malaita, although it was not acted on. In September 1927, various Kwaio, led by a ramo named BasianaBasiana
Basiana was a native leader of the Kwaio group on Malaita in the Solomon Islands. He was a powerful and feared ramo , and came from a line of prominent leaders, feastgivers, and warriors of the Gounaile clan. He is known in the West as the killer of William R...
, planned an attack on Bell and his party when they came for the tax collection. They attempted to recruit plotters by advancing their grievances against Bell and the government, especially the empowerment of Christian coastal groups that were seen to dishonour their ancestors. Word of the plot spread across the island, and Bell and his police were warned well in advance. However, understanding local mores, Bell decided the best approach was to make a show of strength, and thereby command the respect of the locals and achieve their compliance. Collecting taxes offshore or calling residents up one by one, as some of his deputies urged, would reveal weakness.
On Monday 3 October 1927 Bell moored his ship the Auki in Singalagu harbour, and set up the usual tax collection operation at the house in the glen nearby. At dawn on Tuesday, Basiana and the other warriors made their way to the tax collection site. When the warriors arrived, Bell announced his peaceful intentions and invited them to pay their taxes. Basiana paid his tax first and went back to the edge of the clearing where his pouch was. Then he took the barrel of his rifle, concealed it between his arm and body, and slipped back into the line. He worked his way to the front of the line, and while Bell was writing on the tax roll, he took the rifle, raised it high and smashed it into his skull with such force that Bell's head virtually exploded. His death became the first of the Malaita massacre
Malaita massacre
The Malaita massacre inflicted a large number of deaths on the island of Malaita in the Solomon Islands in late 1927. William R. Bell, the District Officer of Malaita in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, and many of his deputies were killed by Basiana and other Kwaio warriors as part of a...
, which ultimately took the lives of nearly 100 people, in both the attack and a retributive raid, and had serious consequences for Kwaio society.
External links
- Bell's death on the Naval Historical Society of Australia