Harry Charles Purvis Bell

Harry Charles Purvis Bell (1851 – 1937), more often known as HCP Bell, was a British civil servant, a commissioner in the Ceylon Civil Service. Appointed an official archaeologist^[1], he carried out many excavations in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), for the Archaeological Survey, during an appointment running from 1890 to 1912^[2]. He brought many valuable Archaeological monuments which were found during excavations from Sri Lanka to British Museum.

After retirement, he also investigated the archaeology and epigraphy of the Maldives, (see Evolution of the Judiciary in the Maldives), where he had been earlier in life^[3] and studied the linguistics of Divehi. Bell had developed a good friendship with the king of Maldives, who put his own royal schooner Fath-ul-Majid at his disposition to carry archaeological research in certain atolls south of Male'.^[4]

Works

• The Máldive Islands: An account of the Physical Features, History, Inhabitants, Productions and Trade. Colombo 1883
• The Máldive Islands. Monograph on the History, Archæology, and Epigraphy with W. L. De Silva, Colombo 1940.
• Excerpta Maldiviana, Colombo 1940.

References

• Bethia N. Bell and Heather M. Bell (1993), H. C. P. Bell: Archaeologist of Ceylon and the Maldives

Notes

1. ^ Department of Archaeology - History
2. ^ Robin W. Winks, Alaine M. Low, The Oxford History of the British Empire (1999), p. 244.
3. ^ [1], [2]
4. ^ Xavier Romero-Frias, The Maldive Islanders, A Study of the Popular Culture of an Ancient Ocean Kingdom. Barcelona 1999, ISBN 84-7254-801-5