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- The other bell can now be found at the Admiralty House in Devonport/Plymouth, England. It was presented to Admiral Sir Edward H. Seymour, the Commander-in-Chief, China Station, at the time of the Boxer Rebellion, by Captain Harry Reynolds and his officers of H.M.S. Pique when the ship returned to Devonport in July, 1903. According to information supplied by Admiralty House, a "bell-house" was constructed at the old Admiralty House modelled on a sketch by the First Lieutenant of H.M.S. Pique of the place where the bell had hung in Shanghai. (However, in other supplemental information and on the plaque screwed on the bell, it mentions the bell comes from Shan Hai Ouan (Cuan), which is similar in spelling to Shanghai, hence the confusion.) In 1935 the bell-house and bell were moved to the new Admiralty House. In October, 1943, while extending the Headquarters under the grounds of Admiralty House, the bell and pavilion fell into a hole 15 feet deep. The ornamental suspension loop on the top of the bell was broken and due to its antiquity, the broken piece was not welded back in fear of damaging the bell. The bell was then placed on a granite pedestal at the rear of Admiralty House where it stands to this day.
Also in the information provided by Admiralty House, it states that a missionary translated the inscription on the bell and found that it was cast in the 11 th century. However, from the various photographs of the Plymouth bell, there is no evidence of any inscription on the bell. This would lead one to believe that the missionary actually deciphered the inscribed bell, which is now in Victoria. The missionary probably listed it as "17th" century, which is correct, and perhaps due to unclear writing of the number "7", it may have been mistakenly listed as "11 th" century, and due to some confusion, this date was attached to the Plymouth bell. The Plymouth bell appears to be roughly of the same date as the bell in Victoria; that is, the casting of the bells can be placed in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).
Another point for confusion between the two bells occurs on pages 83 and 84 in William B. Macdonald's autobiography entitled At Sea and By Land, The Reminiscences of William Balfour Macdonald, r.n. edited by S. W. Jackman, when he discusses how one of the bells was obtained�
During my ride back from his camp, when about seven miles from Shan-Hai-Kwan, I passed a wrecked Chinese village, guarded by a Russian regiment. Always on the lookout for antiques, my eye caught sight of a beautiful old bell, hanging precariously in a ruined temple. I coveted it, and determined to have it.
At eleven o'clock that night, I landed our nine-pounder gun carriage, with tackle, planks, strops, etc., and, accompanied by our resourceful carpenter and seven seamen, proceeded north through the Great Wall, picking up a commissariat mule en route. We arrived in the vicinity of the village about an hour before dawn, tethered the mule to the gun carriage, and crawled forward, dragging our tackles and planks with us.
When the Russian sentries parted to walk in opposite directions, we nipped through the gap, noiselessly unslung the bell and parbuckled it over the surrounding wall, no mean feat, as the bell was over six feet high and weighed oneandahalf tons. The worst part of our adventure was to come; the bell, besides being heavy, would not roll straight. The sentries were still patrolling their beat, and dawn was not far off. After infinite exertion we managed it, rolled the bell up the planks onto the gun carriage, covered it with a tarpaulin, and inserted a large imitation tap into the other end. Day dawned, and a Russian sentry saw a mule dragging a water cart towards the Great Wall of China, attended by a small, innocent naval unit. That bell now hangs in front of the Naval Commander-in-Chief's official residence at Devonport.lt is made of silver and iron, and is over 900 years old.
The editor of the book, Mr. Jackman, not realizing at that time that there were two Chinese bells, puts in a footnote, "Macdonald has forgotten that he gave the bell to Victoria." However, there is a slim chance Mr. Jackman could be correct, as this bell story could be associated with either bell. There are cases to be made for both bells belonging to the passage.
First, Macdonald mentions a more than six feet tall bell weighing one and one-half tons. The Victoria bell is taller and probably heavier than the Devonport bell. However, neither bell is as high as six feet nor as heavy as a ton and a half in weight. This may simply be a little exaggeration by Macdonald in order to tell a ripping good yarn or it may have seemed like a ton and a half when they moved it. Secondly, Macdonald mentions a "beautiful old bell." We do not wish to appear competitive nor to insult the bell in Devonport, but the bell in
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