Peter Albany Bell (20 April 1871 – 14 September 1957) was a

caterer Catering is the business of providing food services at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major service ...

and

confectioner Confectionery is the art of making confections, or sweet foods. Confections are items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates, although exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confections are divided into two broad and somewh ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. He was a significant manufacturer in the state's developing economy.

Early life

Peter Albany Bell was born near

Clare, South Australia The town of Clare is located in South Australia in the Mid North region, 136 km north of Adelaide. It gives its name to the Clare Valley wine and tourist region. At the , Clare itself had a population of 3160 as part of an urban area with ...

on 20 April 1871, to farmer Peter Bell and wife Jane (). Bell's education was almost entirely informal. In 1887, after his father died, he moved with his mother to

. Bell worked as a draper's delivery boy, then an inland stockman, and later a shop assistant, before opening his own confectionery shop in 1894.

Business

Bell's shop was located on Hay Street in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, where he made and sold his own confectionery and lemon squash. He opened several more shops and a factory over the next ten years, and in 1898 travelled to the United States to study the soda-fountain trade. Upon his return, he introduced new manufacturing methods and products, including fruit juices, ice cream sundaes, and

milkshake A milkshake (sometimes simply called a shake) is a sweet beverage made by blending milk, ice cream, and flavorings or sweeteners such as butterscotch, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, or fruit syrup into a thick, sweet, cold mixture. It may ...

s. Amid increased competition after the

federation of Australia The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Wester ...

, Bell began making cakes and pastries, and his confectionery shops became

tea room A teahouse or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel, especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment that only serve ...

s. His company, Albany Bell Ltd, was started in October 1911, and eventually operated eleven tea rooms in Perth, three more in the

Kalgoorlie-Boulder Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

area, and a manufacturing factory, Albany Bell Castle, in

Mount Lawley Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, Co ...

. By 1925, Bell was chairman of the Master Caterers' Association; in that year he faced an unruly strike from the Hotel and Restaurant Employees' Union that lasted for four weeks. With public criticism over the lack of police involvement, and censure motion made against the government due to that issue, Bell pushed for the union to be deregistered, but was not successful. An agreement was finally reached with the union, but Bell was disheartened by the process, and with increasing costs and competition, sold his portion of the business in 1928.

Philanthropy and other roles

Bell was commissioned as a justice of the peace in 1909, and worked in the

Children's Court Juvenile court, also known as young offender's court or children's court, is a tribunal having special authority to pass judgements for crimes committed by children who have not attained the age of majority. In most modern legal systems, chi ...

. Bell volunteered to work overseas for the

Young Men's Christian Association YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

during the First World War. He departed in October 1916 aboard , was engaged in both England and France, and returned in February 1919. Following his retirement in 1928, Bell purchased in Roelands not far from Bunbury, where the Chandler Home for Unemployed Boys was established. Later becoming the Roelands Aboriginal Mission, this venture stemmed from his time in the Children's Court, and his observations of how young offenders and miscreants were treated in the United States while on a business trip in 1915. Bell's charitable donations included donating the annual harvests of his citrus orchard in Roelands – over 2000 cases in the 1965–75 season – for missions and orphanages, so that the children could eat fresh fruit.

Family

Bell married Edith Agnes, née Clark, on 11 March 1896 in

Adelaide, South Australia Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. They had nine children together.

Death and legacy

Bell died on 14 September 1957, and was buried at

Karrakatta Cemetery Karrakatta Cemetery is a metropolitan cemetery in the suburb of Karrakatta in Perth, Western Australia. Karrakatta Cemetery first opened for burials in 1899, the first being that of wheelwright Robert Creighton. Managed by the Metropolitan Ce ...

. M. Tamblyn, writing for the

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

in 1975, considers Bell to be a significant figure due to his being a "manufacturer in the early years of the century when Western Australia lagged behind the other States in developing urban industries". Bell was recognised as one of the most influential Western Australian businesspeople in ''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...

'' 2013 list of the 100 most influential.

Early life

Business

Philanthropy and other roles

Family

Death and legacy

References

Further reading