James Elliot Bell
From The Orange Wiki
BELL, James Elliot
Service no: 4019
Place of birth: Liverpool, England, c1890
Address: Gardiner’s Road, Warrendine, Orange
Occupation: Carpenter
Next of kin: Alice Bell (mother), Gardiner’s Road, Warrendine, Orange, later Osterley, Princes Street, Mortdale, then 22 Neil Street, Carlingford
Date of enlistment: 20 August 1915
Place of enlistment: Orange
Age at enlistment: 24
Fate: Departed from Orange for camp 2 August 1915. Left Orange for front 30 August 1915. Embarked HMAT Mooltan, Sydney, 11 December 1915. Taken on strength of 1st Battalion, Tel-el-Kebir, 14 February 1916. Transferred to 1st Pioneer Battalion 10 March 1916. Embarked at Alexandria to join British Expeditionary Force 26 March 1916. Disembarked Marseilles 2 April 1916. Wounded at Pozieres, sustaining a gunshot wound to the thigh, 22 July 1916. Admitted to No 5 General Hospital Rouen, 24 July 1916. Died of wounds, No 5 General Hospital Rouen, 28 July 1916.
Date of death: 28 July 1916, aged 26
Buried: St Sever Cemetery, Rouen, France, Plot B, Row I, Grave No. 37
James Elliot Bell was born in Liverpool, England, in about 1890. The family emigrated to Australia when James was 10 months old. They lived initially in Sydney, where James attended Sydney and Willoughby Public Schools. The family later moved to Orange, where James’ father Robert worked as a commercial traveller.
Following his education James completed a building trade apprenticeship. He later opened Bell Brothers house and land agents in Summer Street with his brother John.
James enlisted in August 1915, joining the 1st Battalion, 12th Reinforcements as a private. The Leader described the recruits’ send-off from the Orange Railway Station as:
- A scene of intense enthusiasm, [a] mass of pushing, perspiring, struggling and excited humanity
