Lieutenant Colonel Frederick William Bell
- Rank
- Lieutenant Colonel
- Service number
- 64
- Decorations
- Victoria Cross, Mentioned in Despatches
- Unit
- Western Australian Mounted Infantry
- Place of death
- Bristol, England
- Date of death
- 28 April 1954
- Age
- 79
- Plaque number
- K1
- Co-located plaques
- K1A - CAPT Hugo Throssell
- Dedicated by
- RAAC (WA) in 2013
- More information
Biography abstract:
Frederick William Bell was born 3 April 1875 in Perth, Western Australia to parents Henry Thomas Bell and Alice Agnes (nee Watson). He had five sisters and four brothers, two Brothers Edgar 1881-1915 and Bert 1894-1917 were both killed in the Great War.
He was educated at A.D. Letch’s private school for boys and at Perth public school. After leaving school, he joined the Western Australian Public Service as a cadet in the Department of Customs where he later became a cashier.
He married twice, in 1922 he wed divorcee Mabel Mackenzie Valentine nee Skinner, who died in 1944. A year later he married widow Brenda Margaret Cracklow (nee Illingworth) and he had no children.
In 1896 he enlisted in the Perth Artillery Volunteers as a gunner, he was awarded the Good Service Badge for the year ending June 1899. In October 1899 he enlisted as a private in the 1st WAMI (Western Australian Mounted Infantry) following a parade of his Artillery unit in which volunteers were called for.
His first action in South Africa was at Slingersfontein and he later took part in the relief of Johannesburg and Pretoria in the battles of Diamond Hill and Wittebergen. In February 1900 and in July he was badly wounded in action against the Boers at Palmiefontein and invalided back to Western Australia. He was eager to get back to the war and obtained an appointment as a Lieutenant with the 6th WAMI.
It was during a battle at Brakpan Transvaal that he became the first Western Australian to be awarded the Victoria Cross for: “At Brakpan in East Transvaal on 16th May 1901, when retiring through a heavy fire after holding the right flank, Lieutenant Bell noticed a man dismounted and returned and took him up behind him. The horse, not being equal to the weight, fell with them and Bell insisted that his companion take the horse, Lieutenant Bell then remained behind and covered the retirement of the man with his carbine till he was out of danger.”
After discharge in May 1902, Frederick joined the Australian section for the Coronation for King Edward VII. He settled in Perth but returned to England and joined the colonel service in 1905 and was appointed assistant district officer British Somaliland. He was then assistant resident Nigeria 1910-1912 and then district officer in Kenya until the outbreak of the Great War.
He served in France with the Irish Dragoon Guards, was Mentioned in Dispatches and promoted to Captain in 1915. On his return to England he was made commandant of a rest camp and promoted Major, later, in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel he commanded an embarkation camp in Plymouth.
Lieutenant Colonel Frederick William Bell died aged 79 in Bristol England on 28 April 1954. He is interred at Canford cemetery, Bristol.