Cambrai bell

Height 330 mm
Width 406 mm
Weight 46 kg
Note D

Bell Inscription

Cambrai
In memory of George Simpson.
Given by his father, William James Simpson
and family.

The Cambrai bell was given by William Simpson and his family in memory of his eldest son, George Simpson. The bell is named for the French town of Cambrai which is near to where George was killed in action in September 1918.

George Simpson

George was born in Christchurch in 1883, the third of William and Fanny Simpson’s six children. In 1893 the family were living in Herbertville when Fanny died a couple of weeks after giving birth to her sixth child. The following year the family moved to Eltham, Taranaki, where William became the local constable.

In 1902 George was working as a blacksmith in Eltham when he signed up for the South African War. He joined the Tenth Contingent which saw little fighting as it arrived shortly before peace was declared. He returned to Eltham and took up work on the railways before moving to Argentina where he found work with a major railway company.

Following the outbreak of the First World War, George travelled to England where he signed up for service in October 1914. He joined the Royal Horse Guards with whom he served in France until early 1917 when he returned to England to undergo officer training. In August 1917 he became a temporary second lieutenant and transferred to the South Wales Borderers.

On 12 September 1918, fighting with the Borderers, George took part in the Battle of Havrincourt, in which the New Zealand Division also played a role. It was his last battle. Though the Allied forces were successful in taking back the town from the Germans, George was killed in action. He was buried in the nearby Gouzeaucourt New British Cemetery, south west of Cambrai. His headstone bears the inscription ‘Born in New Zealand’.