William R. Bell (original) (raw)

William Robert Bell (7 August 1876 – 4 October 1927) was an Australian-born official in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, who served as the District Officer of Malaita from 1915 until 1927. He was killed while collecting a head tax from the Kwaio of central Malaita. His death set off the Malaita massacre, in which several other colonial officials were killed in a Kwaio attack, which led to a punitive expedition in which many Kwaio were killed or incarcerated in retaliation.