Francis Henry Dillon Bell

Sir Francis Henry Dillon Bell (around 1924)

Sir Francis Henry Dillon Bell , GCMG , (born March 31, 1851 in Nelson , † March 13, 1936 in Wellington ) was the first New Zealand- born Prime Minister of New Zealand .

Early life

Bell was born in Nelson, the eldest son of Sir Francis Dillon Bell . His mother was Margaret Hort, who was of Jewish descent and later converted to Christianity. He attended Auckland Grammar School and Otago Boys' High School; in the latter he was the Dux (best student) for 4 years.

After graduating from high school, he traveled to England and attended St John's College , Cambridge , from which he graduated as a BA in 1872 . On his return he started working as a lawyer in Wellington.

He served as a Crown Solicitor in Wellington from 1878 to 1911 . He was an important member of the local and national Law Society (Lawyers Association). He was president of the latter from 1901 to 1918.

Political career

His political career began with his election as Mayor of Wellington in 1891, 1892 and 1897. In the first general election in New Zealand in 1890 he was defeated as an independent parliamentary candidate in the Wellington constituency. He lost again in a by-election. Finally, with the elections in 1893, he was given a parliamentary mandate and held this one electoral term.

In 1912 the Reform Party came to power and Bell was elected to the Upper House of Parliament, the Legislative Council of New Zealand , and became Minister of the Interior and Minister of Immigration in 1915. In 1918 he became Attorney General , a position he held until 1926. Since 1923 he was also the Foreign Minister of New Zealand,

He represented New Zealand in 1922 in the League of Nations and at the conferences in Genoa and The Hague . In 1923 he was knighted as Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George and was appointed to the Privy Council .

prime minister

After returning to New Zealand, he became Prime Minister, while William Massey was in London . Massey's health deteriorated and Bell largely took over the business of government. After Massey's death on May 10, 1925, he became official Prime Minister on May 14. He held this office for the next 16 days. Bell rejected the party's offer to become prime minister and was replaced by Gordon Coates on May 30 .

After he had given up his offices in 1926, he returned with Coates to the League of Nations. He died in Wellington on March 13, 1936.

Web links

• William James Gardner : Bell, Francis Henry Dillon . In: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , September 1, 2010, accessed August 20, 2012 . 
• William James Gardner : Bell, Sir Francis Henry Dillon, PC, GCMC, KC . In: An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , October 27, 2011, accessed August 20, 2012 . 
• William Parker Morrell : BELL, Sir Francis Dillon . In: An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , October 27, 2011, accessed August 20, 2012 ( Francis Henry Dillon Bell 's father's biography ).