James Elliot Bell

From The Orange Wiki

BELL, James Elliot

Service no: 4019 [1]

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 [2]

In September James returned to Orange, where he was the guest of honour at a valedictory at Orange Public School, and was presented with a wristlet watch by the Methodist Church congregation. [3]

In December Private Bell embarked for overseas service in Egypt. In April the following year he joined the British Expeditionary Force on the western front in France. James fought in the Battle of Pozieres where, on 22 July, he sustained a gunshot wound to the thigh. He was admitted to No 5 General Hospital at Rouen, where he died of his wounds the following week. He was 26 years old. The matron-in-charge later wrote a letter to James’ mother Alice to say:

He was quite conscious till the last day when his leg got so much worse that it was found necessary to amputate it…He was very patient and cheerful and never complained of much pain.

On 25 July Dr Arthur Colvin wrote a letter to James’ brother John:

I saw him [James] yesterday about half an hour after he was wounded. He had a compound fracture of the thigh, but was very cheerful and happy. He got his wound in a battle such as any

man would be proud to be in. It was Australia's first big try against all Germany’s best and alongside the best of the Allies, and you will have learned how our boys did their part.

I was at an advanced dressing station not far from the line the Germans held the other day, and while I was there helping with our wounded I heard a cheerful voice say, ‘How are you,

Dr Colvin,’ and looking, I saw Bell going by on a stretcher. I spoke to him and said I would write and tell his brother. If ever a man was proud of the Australians it is under such

conditions as we see them now. You simply can't quench their cheerfulness or bravery.