Profile

BELL, Alfred Chessar
(Service number 63544)

Aliases
First Rank Private Last Rank Private

Birth

Date 11/06/1893 Place of Birth Dundee, Scotland

Enlistment Information

Date Age
Address at Enlistment 50 Adelaide Road, Wellington; 23 Craigie Avenue, Timaru
Occupation Carpenter
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status
Next of Kin Mrs Robert BELL (mother), 1Grey Road, Timaru
Religion
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation New Zealand Rifle Brigade
Unit, Squadron, or Ship 32nd Reinforcements, F Company
Date 21 November 1917
Transport Maunganui
Embarked From Destination Liverpool, Merseyside, England
Other Units Served With Trained with the 29th Platoon at Wairapara for the 2nd Otago NZEF.
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals British War Medal; Victory Medal
Military Awards

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

Discharge

Date Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date 31 July 1989 Age 96 years
Place of Death Lower Hutt
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery
Memorial Reference Karori Crematorium, Wellington
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Alfred Chessar Bell was born on 11 June 1893 at Dundee, Scotland, the only son of Robert and Mary (née Chessar) Bell. Alfred had five sisters. The family came to New Zealand about 1912, Alfred stating that he had been in the country for five years when he enlisted on 18 July 1917. His two youngest sisters entered Timaru Main School early in 1913, coming from Dundee, Scotland. Alfred was a carpenter in Wellington when he was called up and enlisted.

In May 1918 his mother received the word that he had been reported missing between 12 and 19 April, and was then believed to have been made a prisoner of war on 16th April. It was officially reported in June that A. C. Bell, Entrenching Battalion, was a prisoner of war in Germany. He was released from captivity at the beginning of December 1918. Having embarked for New Zealand on 11 March 1919 per the “Rarungi”, he was met by the Timaru Reception Committee and accorded a hearty welcome home at the Railway Station at the end of April.

Alfred married Annie Ramsay Fenton in 1920 at Chalmers Church, Timaru. He lived to a grand age, dying on 31 July 1989 at Lower Hutt, aged 96 years. His parents and all his sisters, but the youngest, were long-lived.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [15 August 2020]; Karori Crematorium record (Wellington City Council) [20 August 2020]; Timaru Herald, 30 May 1918, 21 June 1918, 15 April 1919, 2 May 1919, Nelson Evening Mail, 31 May 1918, Star, 20 June 1918 (Papers Past) [11 November 2013; 16 August 2020]

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available.

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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