Henry Hesketh Bell
Vorlage:Infobox Officeholder Sir Henry Hesketh Joudou Bell Vorlage:Post-nominals (17 December 1864 – 1 August 1952)[1][2] was a British colonial administrator and author.
Biography
Henry Hesketh Joudou Bell[3] was born on 17 December 1864 at Chambéry in the Savoie department of south-east France. He was the son of Henry Jean Antoine Joudou (or Joudon), a timber merchant, and Scotswoman Martha Bell.
Bell was privately educated in the Channel Islands, and in Paris and Brussels.[4] In May 1882 he started work in Barbados, as third clerk in the office of the Governor of Barbados and the Leeward Islands, a post he was offered by family friend Sir William C. F. Robinson. From then on he rose through the system in the following posts:
- 1885-1889 – Grenada Inland Revenue Department
- 1890-94 – Supervisor of Customs in the Gold Coast
- Receiver General and Treasurer of the Bahamas
- 1899-1905 – Administrator Of Dominica
- 1905-08 – Commissioner (later, Governor) of the Uganda Protectorate
- 1909-11 – Governor of Northern Nigeria
- 1912-16 – Governor of the Leeward Islands
- 1916-24 – Governor of Mauritius
In December 2007, New Vision, a Ugandan online newspaper, posted a piece entitled “Hesketh Bell’s Ugandan descendants” in which 72-year old Ketty Karuyonga Bell, said to be a great-granddaughter of the former Governor, tells her story.[5] Hesketh Bell, who never married, is alleged to have had a son with a Mutooro[6] woman, Maria Nyamuhaibona. The boy, John Dick Bell, is said to have been born on 18 December 1905. Hesketh Bell reportedly sent support for the boy, until he learned that John had had a serious accident when he was 10; support then stopped. John, who had 12 children, died of a heart attack in 1953.
Bell's many achievements in Uganda have been summarised as a teaching aid.[7] One of the most important was a scheme for suppressing sleeping sickness, which Bell proposed in August 1907. After the Treasury authorized the funds for the work, the natives were moved from the fly-infested district on the shores of Lake Victoria to healthy locations inland. The sick were placed in segregation camps to undergo the so-called atoxyl treatment; an estimated 20,000 people were dealt with. The shores of Lake Victoria were cleared of all vegetation, thus removing the presence of the tsetse fly.[8]
Bell retired to Cannes in 1924, but he still travelled widely. In 1925-26 made an extensive semi-official tour of the Far East to study French and Dutch systems of colonial government.[4] His conclusions were published as Foreign colonial administration in the Far East in 1928[9], for which he was was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Empire Society.
During the Second World War, Bell returned to live in the Bahamas, but was a frequent visitor to London, where he was a member of the Conservative Club in St James's. Sir Henry Hesket Joudou Bell, GCMG died at 92 Redcliffe Gardens, Kensington on 1st August 1952.
Some of Bell’s publications
His works included memoirs, fiction, and colonial history and administration
- 1889 – Obeah: witchcraft in the West Indies[10]
- 1893 – A Witch's Legacy[11]
- 1893 – The History, Trade, Resources, and present Condition of the Gold Coast Settlement[12]
- 1894 – Outlines of the Geography of the Gold Coast Colony and Protectorate. Compiled for use in the colonial schools[13]
- 1894 – The History, Trade, Resources, and present Condition of the Gold Coast Settlement
- 1909 – Report on the Measures Adopted for the Suppression of Sleeping Sickness in Uganda[8]
- 1909 – Survey and Exploration in the Ruwenzori and Lake Region, Central Africa
- 1911 – Love in Black [Sketches of native life in West Africa]
- 1911 – Recent Progress in Northern Nigeria
- 1928 – Foreign colonial administration in the Far East[9]
- 1946 – Glimpses of a Governor's Life, from diaries, letters and memoranda
- 1948 – Witches & Fishes
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References
- ↑ http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/rcs_photographers/entry.php?id=68
- ↑ http://dominicahistory.org/archive2016/exhibits/show/hesketh-bell/hesketh-bell
- ↑ In his naturalisation papers of 24 November 1894, his name was entered as Henry Hesketh Joudon Bell, which he signed to be true
- ↑ a b KS: Sir Henry Hesketh Bell Collection. In: Janus. University of Cambridge, abgerufen am 8. März 2020.
- ↑ Lydia Namubiru: Hesketh Bell's Ugandan descendants. In: New Vision: Uganda's Leading Daily. Vision Group Uganda, abgerufen am 10. März 2020.
- ↑ One of the Butooro people, who inhabit the Kabarole and Kasese districts of western Uganda The Batooro People & Culture. In: Uganda Travel Guide. Abgerufen am 10. März 2020.
- ↑ Dr Dennis Mubiru: What was the role of sir Hesketh bell in the development of Uganda? In: welcome to mubula resource center of excellence. Abgerufen am 10. März 2020.
- ↑ a b Sir H Hesketh Bell, KCMG: Report on the Measures Adopted for the Suppression of Sleeping Sickness in Uganda. His Majesty's Stationery Office, London 1909.
- ↑ a b Sir Hesketh Bell, GCMG: Foreign colonial administration in the Far East. Edward Arnold & Co, London 1928.
- ↑ Hesketh J Bell: Obeah: Witchcraft in the West Indies. Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington Ltd, Northampton 1889.
- ↑ Sir Hesketh Bell: A Witch's Legacy. Sampson, Low & Co, London 1893.
- ↑ Sir Hesketh Bell: The History, Trade, Resources, and present Condition of the Gold Coast Settlement. In: The Journal of Commerce. Liverpool 1893.
- ↑ Sir Hesketh Bell: Outlines of the Geography of the Gold Coast Colony and Protectorate. Compiled for use in the colonial schools. Sampson, Low & Co, London 1894.