Rongomai bell

  • Height  279 mm
  • Width  330 mm
  • Weight  27 kg
  • Note  F#
Bell Inscription

Rongomai
In memory of Cecil Ernest Webb and
Arthur Llewellyn Webb.
Given by relatives.

The name of this bell, Rongomai, is unusual as most of the bells in the Carillon are named after a battle or place. It is not known why this name was chosen, but newspaper reports at the time the bells were cast reported that the te reo Māori word was used to signify ‘Sounding This Way’. It was given in memory of brothers Arthur and Cecil Webb, the sons of Richard and Mary Webb, who grew up in Wellington. Both died on the battlefields of France: Arthur in September 1916 and Cecil in August 1918. 

Arthur Webb

Arthur was a teacher or teacher trainee and had served in the New Zealand Territorial Force before the war. He was part of the group of men who rushed to enlist as soon as war was declared, giving his age as 20 (the minimum age for recruitment) when he was only 18. He was among the first main group of New Zealand soldiers to depart for service in October 1914. After his death, his parents honoured this by including the words ‘Main Body NZEF’ in his death notice – in these years New Zealanders would have known this meant he was among the first group of men to enlist.

Arthur joined the Otago Battalion and fought in the Gallipoli campaign. He was wounded on 8 August 1915, the day New Zealand forces took Chunuk Bair. He was hospitalised for many months and did not return to his unit until after the evacuation from Gallipoli. The following year Arthur was part of the newly reorganised New Zealand Division that travelled to northern France to join the fighting on the Western Front.

On 27 September 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, Arthur’s unit participated in a costly attack. He was among the many wounded and suffered a serious stomach wound. A stretcher bearer found him but due to the severity of his wound decided not to take Arthur to the regimental aid post. A Court of Enquiry held two days later recorded that Arthur had not been seen or heard of since and ruled that he had died of his wounds. His body was never recovered. Arthur’s name is among the more than 1200 listed on the Caterpillar Valley Memorial near Longueval, which commemorates men of the New Zealand Division whose bodies were lost on the battlefield.

Cecil Webb

The older of the two brothers, Cecil worked for the Mines Department in Wellington prior to the outbreak of war. He signed up in late 1915 and arrived on the Western Front in April the following year as a newly promoted corporal with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade.

Like his brother, Cecil took part in the Battle of the Somme, though only briefly as he was wounded in action on 15 September, the day the New Zealand infantry entered the fray. He was hospitalised and didn’t return to the front until May 1917. Cecil advanced up the ranks over the following months, becoming a sergeant towards the end of 1917.

On 25 August 1918, the Rifle Brigade launched an assault on the German-held town of Bapaume in northern France. The fighting was difficult and costly, and though the enemy was eventually forced out of the town, Cecil was killed in action on the second day of fighting.

Webb Memorial Cup

In 1921 the Webb Memorial Cup was presented to Plimmerton School by a Mr Garnham. The cup was to be awarded each year to the child who ‘stands highest in general merit, consideration being given, not only to school work, but also to punctuality, cleanliness, good manners, sport, and popularity’.

Which brother the cup remembers is unclear. Newspaper reports at the time stated that the cup was presented in Cecil’s memory but also inaccurately stated that Cecil fell on the Somme, whereas it was Arthur who was killed in that battle. Awarded from 1921 to 1972, the cup was found in an old box in a storage room in the early 2010s. It was restored and is now on display at Plimmerton School. 

Further information

Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph record – Arthur Webb

Commonwealth War Graves Commission record – Arthur Webb

Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph record – Cecil Webb

Commonwealth War Graves Commission record – Cecil Webb

'Plimmerton', Evening Post, 24 December 1921, p. 3

Official History of the Otago Regiment, N.Z.E.F. in the Great War 1914-1918, 1921, p. 133

Porirua war stories – Arthur Webb

WW100 – remembering Private Arthur Webb

Stuff article – Old school trophy found and restored

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