BELL, Robert Alfred
(Service number 74374)
| First Rank | Trooper | Last Rank | Trooper |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 21 January 1884 | Place of Birth | Waimate |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 26 November 1917 | Age | 33 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Makikihi | ||
| Occupation | Farmer | ||
| Previous Military Experience | Studholme Mounted Rifles - 2 years; Disbanded | ||
| Marital Status | Single when enlisted; married before embarkation | ||
| Next of Kin | Mrs R. A. BELL (wife), Norton Reserve. Waimate | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Expeditionary Force | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 41st Reinforcements, Mounted Rifles Brigade | ||
| Date | 11 October 1918 | ||
| Transport | Moeraki; transhipped to Malta at Sydney | ||
| Embarked From | Destination | Suez, Egypt | |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | Canterbury Regiment NZMA | ||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | |||
Award Circumstances and Date
No information
Prisoner of War Information
| Date of Capture | |
|---|---|
| Where Captured and by Whom | |
| Actions Prior to Capture | |
| PoW Serial Number | |
| PoW Camps | |
| Days Interned | |
| Liberation Date |
Death
| Date | 21 January 1959 | Age | 75 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Waimate | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Waimate Cemetery | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
Robert Alfred Bell, whose birth was registered as Alfred Bell, was born on 21 January 1884 at Waimate, the second son of Robert and Robina (formerly Johnston, née McKay) Bell. He did have an older half-brother, Alexander Johnston. His parents farmed “Minniemoore” at Hook. His father died in 1902 and his mother, who was “well and widely known for her hospitality”, died unecpectedly in 1913. When Alfred enlisted in 1917, he was single and farming on his own account at Makikihi. He had served with the Studholme Mounted Rifles for two years before the company was disbanded. On 2 July 1918 at Waimate he married Evelyn Ellen Patterson, who was named as his next-of-kin. His youngest brother, Stanley Ferguson Bell, was killed in action in France in 1917, and another brother, Irwin McKay Bell, also served in World War One.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [09 November 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [09 November 2020]; Waimate Cemetery headstone image & burial record (Waimate District Council) [09 November 2020]
External Links
Related Documents
No documents available.
Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG
Currently Assigned to
Not assigned.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
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