Harry Charles Purvis Bell

HCP Bell, ~1890.

Harry Charles Purvis Bell (1851 – 1937), more often known as HCP Bell, was a British civil servant and a commissioner in the Ceylon Civil Service. He was born in British India.

Biography

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]

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

Works

• Bell, Harry Charles Purvis (1882). The Máldive Islands: An Account of the Physical Features, Climate, History, Inhabitants, Productions, and Trade. F. Luker, acting government printer, Ceylon.
• The Maldive Islands. Report on a Visit to Málé, Colombo, 1921.
• Bell, Harry Charles Purvis (1890). Anuradhpura and the North-Central Province ...: Progress Report. Government Printer, South Africa.
• Bell, Harry Charles Purvis (2002). The Máldive Islands: Monograph on the History, Archaeology and Epigraphy. Novelty Printers Publ. ISBN 978-99915-3-051-2.
• Bell, Harry Charles Purvis (1998). Excerpta Máldiviana. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 978-81-206-1221-1.

See also

• Judiciary of 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. ,
4. Romero Frías 2003.

Bibliography

• Bell, Bethia Nancy; Bell, Heather M. (1993). H.C.P. Bell: Archaeologist of Ceylon and the Maldives. Archetype Pubs. ISBN 978-1-873132-45-6.
• Romero Frías, Xavier (2003). The Maldive Islanders: A Study of the Popular Culture of an Ancient Ocean Kingdom. Nova Ethnographia Indica. ISBN 978-84-7254-801-5.