William Macdonald BELL

BELL, William Macdonald

Service Number: 3715
Enlisted: 30 October 1917
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 1st Light Horse Regiment
Born: Govan, Lanarkshire, Glasgow, United Kingdom, 10 January 1873
Home Town: Newcastle, Hunter Region, New South Wales
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Miner
Died: Suicide, Wickham, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, 5 December 1937, aged 64 years
Cemetery: Sandgate General Cemetery, Newcastle, NSW
Sandgate Cemetery, GENERAL-30. 5.
Memorials: Junction Soldier's Memorial
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World War 1 Service

30 Oct 1917: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3715, Camel Corps
30 Apr 1918: Involvement Private, 3715, Camel Corps, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '3' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: SS Port Darwin embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: ''
30 Apr 1918: Embarked Private, 3715, Camel Corps, SS Port Darwin, Sydney
10 Aug 1918: Transferred AIF WW1, Trooper, 1st Light Horse Regiment
19 Oct 1919: Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 3715, 1st Light Horse Regiment

Help us honour William Macdonald Bell's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Evan Evans

From Gary Mitchell

A Forgotten Digger of The Great War and Sandgate Cemetery.
82 years ago today, on the Sunday afternoon of the 5th December 1937, Private William Macdonald Bell, 1st Australian Light Horse Regiment, gold miner from Kenrick Street, The Junction, New South Wales and Hunter Street West, N.S.W., Stepfather of five, was laid to rest at Sandgate Cemetery, age 63. GENERAL-30. 5.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article166686686

Born at Govan, Lanarkshire, Glasgow, United Kingdom on the 10th January 1873 to Robert Marrs and Susannah (Susanna) Bell nee Greg; husband of Mary Ellen Bell nee Cullen (married 1929, died?), William enlisted October 1917 with the Camel Corps (May 1916 to August 1917 Reinforcements) at Newcastle, N.S.W., and returned home May 1919.

Name inscribed on the Junction Soldiers' Memorial, and I believe his name would be inscribed on the Adamstown Loyal Pride (126) M.U.I.O.O.F. Roll of Honour.

Tragically, Mr Bell fell in front of a train (coroner verdict suicide) at Wickham Railway Station, N.S.W.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article134995469


For 78 years William had been resting in an unmarked grave, forgotten, so I have placed a cross on the gravesite, taken a photo of the grave and uploaded the photo onto the Northern Cemetery website as a permanent record of his service.
http://sandgate.northerncemeteries.com.au/index.php/war-heroes/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=103&aso=exact&s_f=id&data_search=422167#grave-photo-1

Thanks to Lynette Hutchings for the family history.

Also served 2 years Boer War (15th Battalion Berkshire Imperial Yeomanry).
Lest We Forget.

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