Name
Leonard Bell
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
22/05/1918
26
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
Rifle Brigade
3rd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
VILLERS STATION CEMETERY, VILLERS-AU-BOIS
XII. B. 18.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Letchworth Town Memorial
Pre War
Leonard Bell was born in Olford, Kent, the only son of Leonard & Emily Bell, who later lived at “Edendale”, Baldock Road, Letchworth, which may have been after her husband's death.
Leonard enlisted in the Bedfordshire Yeomanry on 1st March 1911 in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, for a term of 4 years with the Territorial Army. Originally Private in 'A Squadron' Bedfordshire Yeomanry (653).
Lived at 199 Baldock Road.
Wartime Service
At the outbreak of the First World War Leonard was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal and was re-engaged into the Territorial Army on the 10th November 1915. It was in June 1915 that he was posted to France to serve with the Bedfordshire Yeomanry, returning to the UK on the 30th April 1916. Leonard, now a Corporal, was discharged from the Bedfordshire Yeomanry on the 17th May 1916 to a commission in the 10th Rifle Brigade, the promotion being confirmed in the London Gazette on the 30th May 1916.
He survived gunshot wound to abdomen 6 weeks after Commission in June 1916, when he was 'seriously wounded' in stomach, bullet passing out through side - life saved by cigarette case.
During his service on the Western Front he suffered from an attack of Enteritis, for which he was returned to the UK - this was probably prior to the 30th April 1916. On the 21st May 1918 was wounded in action, by a bomb from an early morning raid by enemy aircraft, and he later died as a result of his injuries at No.57 Casualty Clearing Station in Aubigny.
Additional Information
His Service Record is availabe.
Acknowledgments
Dan Hill, Louise Fryer, Jonty Wild
