William Garfield Bagnall

William Garfield Bagnall (31 January 1882 – 17 August 1957) was a New Zealander who served as Minister of Finance of Tonga between 1919 and 1939.

Biography Bagnall was born in Turua in 1882, and moved to Tonga whilst working as a purser on the Ysabel schooner. He initially worked for the Vines Utting and Purston trading firm, before joining the Postal Department. He married Lilly Riechelmann from Nukuʻalofa. The presence of four Europeans in key positions (Herbert Cecil Stronge as Chief Justice, James Darrell Wall as Auditor-General and Alexander Brooke Wallace as Minister for Public Works) led to a rebellion by opposition MPs, who held a majority in the Assembly. However, despite going on strike in 1920, their demand that Bagnall be removed from office was refused by Queen Sālote.

On the same day that the judgement was released, Sālote asked the British High Commissioner Harry Luke to recall Stuart. However, a 1,100-signature petition was subsequently brought to Sālote requesting all ministers except Stuart and Sioape Kaho were sacked, and the British Colonial Office opined that Stuart's removal would give weight to the reports of malpractice. As a result, Sālote asked Bagnall for his resignation, Two days earlier a bill had been presented in the Legislative Assembly to impeach him.

Later life and death After retiring Bagnall moved to Auckland. He died in hospital at the age of 74 in 1957.