Bell no. 17 (Lewis bell)

Height 298 mm
Width 368 mm
Weight 38 kg
Note E

Bell Inscription

[Untitled]
In memory of Watkin Eldridge Lewis, Tom
Eldridge Lewis, and Samuel Eldridge Lewis.
Given by their sisters and brothers.

One of the few bells in the Carillon that does not have a name, the seventeenth bell was given in memory of brothers Watkin, Tom and Samuel Lewis, all of whom died in the First World War. The bell was given by their brothers and sisters, their father and mother having died in 1916 and 1925 respectively.

Of the ten children born to Sarah and William Lewis, four sons fought in the First World War but only one returned. The family had emigrated from London to New Zealand in 1879. They settled for a short time in Whanganui before moving to Forty Mile Bush in Wairarapa and finally to Wellington in the early 1900s.

Watkin Lewis

The eldest of the sons to go to war, Watkin Lewis was born in 1876 in London, before his parents emigrated to New Zealand. He became a carpenter and was employed by the Wanganui Board of Education when he signed up for service in the First World War. In June 1915 he was sent overseas, leaving behind his wife, Margaret, and two teenage sons, Watkin and Owen.

A private in the Wellington Battalion, Watkin joined his unit at Gallipoli on 8 August 1915. He was immediately thrust into the action with the Wellington Battalion fighting most of the day to hold Chunuk Bair against Ottoman attacks. Watkin was reported wounded in the day’s fighting and was not seen again. A later Board of Enquiry determined that he died from his wounds on or about 8 August 1915. His name is among those listed on the New Zealand memorial to the missing at Chunuk Bair.

Tom Lewis

Tom Lewis was born in London in 1879, the year the family emigrated. He worked as a miner and as a young man signed up for service in the South African War. He was a member of the Tenth Contingent which arrived too late to see any real fighting, with peace declared not long after the group’s arrival.

Twelve years later, Tom, now working in Upper Mātakitaki in the Nelson region, signed up for service in another war. He left New Zealand with the Main Body, the first large group to depart for the First World War, in October 1914. Tom became a private in the Canterbury Infantry Battalion and served at Gallipoli. On 7 August, while taking part in the Sari Bair offensive, Tom was wounded in the stomach. He was evacuated to the hospital ship Gascon but died two days later and was buried at sea. He is remembered on the New Zealand memorial at Lone Pine cemetery, Gallipoli.

Samuel Lewis

The last member of the family to join the war effort, Samuel Lewis was born in Whanganui in 1883. He was working as a merchant in Marton when he signed up in December 1915, a few months after the deaths of his elder brothers Watkin and Tom at Gallipoli. He left New Zealand in May 1916, leaving behind his wife, Emma, and two young daughters, Edith and Gwynneth.

Samuel arrived on the Western Front in September 1916, a few days before the New Zealand Division made its first contribution to the ongoing Somme offensive. He joined the New Zealand Rifle Brigade as a second lieutenant and was promoted to lieutenant in February 1918. The promotion came despite a report made in November 1917 which stated: ‘He [Samuel] appears to be afraid of the enemy’. What, if anything, happened to cause this fear is not known as part of Samuel’s military file is missing.

On 5 April 1918 the Germans launched a major set-piece attack, the first and only time the New Zealand Division stood in the way of such an assault. Samuel was undertaking reconnaissance and had just sent in his first report of the enemy when he was shot in the head and killed. Following his death, and in light of his ‘courage and keenness’ throughout the previous months, Alexander Stewart, the Rifle Brigade’s Brigadier-General, petitioned for the negative report to be deleted from Samuel’s record. This was done, though some details regarding the report remain legible through the black ink used to block them out. Samuel’s body was never recovered. He is among those remembered on the New Zealand memorial to the missing at Grevillers British Cemetery in France.