William Frederick Mark Bell

Rank 
Sapper
Regiment 
Royal Engineers
Date of death 
17 November 1915
Age of death 
33
Address 
18 Oxford Road
Woodford Green
Woodford
RED
IG8 7NN
Address source 
1911 Census
Local memorial 
Cemetery / Memorial 
United Kingdom
Biography 

William Frederick Mark Bell was born in 1883, the son of William Henry John and Annie Bell.

William Jr. married Beatrice Ethel Cousins on 6th October 1906 at St. Paul’s Church in Canonbury, Islington, when they were both 24 years old. William’s marital home was 18 Oxford Road, Woodford Green, where he and Beatrice had three children: Douglas, Marjorie and Phyllis. According to the 1911 census, William was a worker with the GPO Telegraph Department.

William joined the army on 13th January 1915. He was a Royal Engineer working in communications and was posted to Ireland at Fermoy with 16 Signals Company, attached to the Guards Signal Company.

During training, he became soaking wet and was diagnosed with pleurisy on 2nd April 1915 at Waterford, and treated for emphysema in hospital at Cork from 3rd May 1915 to 15th May 1915. He was hospitalised when the Guards Signal Company left Ireland, so without leaving the hospital setting he was posted to the Signals Depot at Haynes Park for light duties. He never reported there, instead arriving at the British Red Cross Auxiliary Military Hospital at ’Highams’ in Woodford Green on 9th August 1915. He died from pleurisy after an unsuccessful operation in the hospital, on the 17th November 1915. He was a member of the choir at St. Barnabas Church where his funeral was held. William is buried at Abney Park Cemetery.

Research by Adrian Lee, Local Historian

Sources:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Ancestry.com

Woodford Times