Fact file:

  • Matriculated: 1898, at New College

  • Born: 7 May 1879

  • Died: 2 September 1918

  • Regiment: Tank Corps

  • Grave/Memorial: Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery: 8.K.3

Family background

b. 7 May 1879 at 15, Bessborough Street, Westminster, London SW, as the third and youngest son of the Reverend Samuel Bell, MA (b. c.1842 in Ireland, d. 1913) and his wife Elizabeth Bell (née Collins) (1842–1926) (m. 1872). At the time of the 1881 Census the family were living at 15, Bessborough Street, Westminster, London SW1 (three servants and a governess); at the time of the 1891 Census the family were living at Fern Leigh, Grove Road, Brixton (one servant); at the time of the 1891 and 1901 Censuses the family were living at 84, Grove Park Terrace, Chiswick (one servant), and by 1902 at 11, The Shrubberies, Woodford, Essex. After Bell’s death, his widowed mother lived at 1, Moreton Road, Oxford.

 

Parents and antecedents

Bell’s father was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he was awarded a BA in 1869 and an MA in 1883. From 1872 to 1873 he was an assistant master at Cheltenham Grammar School, Gloucestershire; in 1874 he studied Theology at King’s College, London, and was ordained deacon; and in 1875 he was ordained priest. He was then Curate of several well-to-do parishes in the Diocese of London: St Mary the Virgin, Vincent Square, Westminster, London SW1 (1874–77); St Saviour’s, St George’s Square, Westminster, London SW1 – and also an Army Chaplain (1877–83); St Michael and All Angels, Sydenham, Kent (1884–88); All Saints, Highgate, London N6 (1889–90); St Michael’s, Stockwell, London SW9 (1890–95); St Paul’s, Chiswick, London W4 (1895–1902) and St Mary’s, Woodford, London E18 (1902–03). He was also an Army Tutor, i.e. someone who prepared young men for the entrance exam to the Royal Military College (Sandhurst).

Bell’s mother was the daughter of James Jeremiah Collins (1812–1976), Principal of the Vote Office in the House of Commons from 1871.

 

Siblings and their families

Brother of:

(1) Reverend Harold Chalmer (1873–1959); married (1913) Dorothy Mary Crosland (1895–1945); two daughters;

(2) Edith Oenone (1875–1942);

(3) Stanley Hercules (1877–1953); married first (1903) Cecil Blanche Repton (1868–1938) and then (1943) Bessie Coate (1904–87);

(4) Lilian Irene (b. 1881, d. 1910 in Sydney, Australia), later Hungerford after her marriage in 1903 to Richard Becher Hungerford (b. 1879 in Clontarf, Dublin, d. 1932 in Sydney, Australia), an electrician and electrical engineer.

 Harold Chalmer studied Theology at King’s College, London, in 1896 and was awarded the AKC (Associateship of King’s College, the original award of the College dating back to 1829); a decade later he read Modern History as a non-collegiate student at the University of Oxford, where he was awarded a 3rd class degree in 1909 (BA 1909; MA 1912). He was ordained deacon in 1896 and priest in 1897, and was then, successively, the Curate of three parishes in the home counties: Great and Little Kimble, Buckinghamshire (1896–98); All Saints, Boyne Hill (1898–1900); and St Giles, Reading (1900–05). From 1905 to 1910 he was Secretary of the Church of England Temperance Society in the Diocese of Oxford and a Lay Preacher in the same Diocese until 1911. He was Curate of Leamington, Warwickshire, from 1911 to 1913 and Vicar of Hollybush from 1913 to 1915. During World War One he served as a Chaplain (2nd Class) to the 47th (1/2nd London) Division, having been associated with Volunteer and Territorial Forces units since 1897, and landed in France on 17 March 1915, i.e. during that period (8–22 March) when the 47th Division was landing in France, the second Territorial Division to do so. For his war-time services he was awarded the Croix de Guerre (France). From 1920 to 1929 he was Vicar of Over Peover, Cheshire, and also served as a Proctor in Convocation in the Diocese of Chester. From 1929 to 1938 he was Rector of North Crawley, near Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, in the Diocese of Oxford, a village with a population of 404 and a gross income of £536 p.a. From 1938 to 1940 he was a Chaplain in Romania (Ploesti and Bucharest); in 1941 he was briefly the Chaplain at the British Legation in Sofia; and from 1944 to 1948 he worked for the Foreign Office. A member of the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church of England, he published: Notes on the Celebration of the Eucharist (1923), Voces Clamantium: The Clergy and the Church Assembly (1929) and Catholics and the Group Movement (1939), and co-edited William Lyndwood, Provinciale: The Text of the Canons therein contained [1534] (1929).

At the time of the 1911 Census Stanley Hercules was a Society Entertainer.

 

Education and professional life

Bell attended St Paul’s Cathedral Choir School, Kensington, London SW (1873) from 1887 to 1895 and then St Paul’s School, Hammersmith, from 1895 to 1898, where he began in the same form as the future novelist Compton Mackenzie (1883–1972), who was four years younger than him and would also become an undergraduate at Magdalen. Although Bell was intelligent enough to acquire an Oxford & Cambridge Higher Certificate and so be exempted from Responsions at Oxford, his academic performance at school was erratic and a master wrote of him: “Though without much capacity, he has generally done as much as he could: he can write intelligently, knowing more Greek and Latin than the rest of the form, but is not a very consistent worker. There is a long way between his best and his worst work.” Whilst he could do well at Mathematics and French and particularly well at Divinity and English, his forte was evidently singing and he was awarded the first prize for this in July 1898. An obituarist wrote of him: “He was a good musician, and came to St. Paul’s as an experienced chorister. In due time he developed an alto voice of unusual quality, most valuable in the men’s quartettes which often marked our concerts. He was a keen member of the Musical Society and on leaving school gained a place in the renowned Magdalen choir.” But he first came to Oxford as a non-collegiate student, then matriculated at New College, Oxford, on 15 October 1898, but was “poached” by Magdalen as an Academical Clerk (alto) on 16 December 1898. He came into residence at Magdalen on 20 January 1899 and passed the First Public Examination in the Hilary and Trinity Terms of 1899 and three Groups of the Final Pass School in Michaelmas Term 1900 (A1 [Greek and/or Latin Literature/Philosophy], B3 [Elements of Political Economy], and D [Elements of Religious Knowledge]). On 2 December 1900, Magdalen’s Tutorial Board agreed to make Bell a special grant of £10.

Bell left Magdalen at the end of Michaelmas Term 1900 and took his BA on 14 January 1902. After leaving Oxford he became an assistant master at Yardley Preparatory School, Somerfield, near Tonbridge, Kent, where he established a very popular and successful “Singing Class” which gave yearly concerts in the summer. He then taught at a school in Sutton Coldfield, and at Trent College, Long Eaton, Derbyshire, from 1 June 1910 to April 1915. From 25 February 1913 to January 1915, when he resigned his Officers’ Training Corps (OTC) Commission, he served as a Second Lieutenant, and then, from 25 February 1913, as a Lieutenant, in Trent College’s OTC (Junior Division).

 

Hugh Reginald Bell, BA (1917)
(Photo courtesy of Magdalen College, Oxford)

 

Military and war service

Bell was commissioned into the Motor Machine Gun Service (MMGS; administered by the Royal Artillery) as a Temporary Second Lieutenant on 13 August 1915 (London Gazette, no. 29,290, 10 September 1915, p. 8,991) and began a course at the Portland School of Instruction, near Weymouth, Dorset, on 6 September 1915. He was then transferred into the Motor Branch of the Machine Gun Corps (MGC) when it was created in October 1915 by the merger of the MMGS and the Royal Navy Armoured Car Service. In March 1916 Bell was transferred again, this time to one of the Companies of the Heavy Section of the MGC when it was formed at Bisley, Surrey, for instruction on the newly invented “landships” – i.e. tanks, the first of which had been constructed by William Foster & Co., Lincoln, in August/September 1915 and demonstrated to the British Army on 2 February 1916. He was promoted Temporary Lieutenant on 1 July 1916, and on 25/26 August 1916 he was almost certainly present when two Heavy Trains left Barnham siding in central Norfolk, each carrying 13 of the new weapons, which had been arriving in France since 13 August. On 29 August he disembarked at Le Havre with one of the Army’s first four tank Companies, each consisting of four sections of three Mk 1 tanks (i.e. a total of 48 tanks), that had been arriving in France since 13 August. In this context of rapid military development, it is noteworthy that of the c.20,000 men who would serve with British tank units in World War One, only 2–3% were Regular soldiers, most of whom were in command and staff appointments, whereas all the administrative and engineering staff, not to mention those men like Bell who were at the sharp end of tank warfare, were temporary soldiers, with civilian jobs behind them.

After landing, Bell and his comrades spent two days in Rouen, and on 31 August 1916 they and their tanks travelled by train to Saint-Riquier, about four miles east-north-east of Abbeville. At 20.30 hours on 14 September, i.e. the day before that part of the Battle of the Somme that became known as the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, when tanks were used in battle for the very first time, 25 tanks belonging to Bell’s ‘D’ Company, each with a crew of eight, began to position themselves behind that part of the front line where the Canadian Corps and the British III and XV Corps were massing for the attack on the following day; this began at 06.20 hours. Four tanks from ‘D’ Company – D1, D3, D4, D5 – were assigned to support the 14th (Light) Division on the right of the sector opposite Flers. Although D5 reached Gueudecourt, nearly a mile past Flers, all four were either put out of action by German artillery or ditched, i.e. became stuck (cf. H.W. Garton). Ten other tanks – D2, D6, D7, D9, D14, D15, D16, D17, D18 and D19 – were assigned to support the 41st Division on the left of 14th Division. Seven of these, D2, D7, D14, D15, D16, D18 and D19, were to aim straight for the centre of Flers, while the other three, D6, D9 and D17, were to go round the eastern edge of the village and take out strong-points and machine-gun nests. The attack was successful: D16 entered Flers at 08.20 hours, closely followed by D18, and the village was captured by 10.00 hours. But of the other eight tanks, D7 broke down; D14 failed to make the start line; D6, D15 and D17 were either put out of action or badly damaged; D9 crashed; and D2 and D19 ditched in shell holes while moving up to the start line and took no part in the action. Four other tanks – D8, D10, D11 and D12 – were assigned to the New Zealand Division on the left of 41st Division, and of these, three – D10, D11 and D12 – were put of action or ditched while withdrawing and D8 was incapacitated when its viewing mirrors were shattered. But before being hit by shells, D11 and D12 reached Flers and crushed the wire for the advancing troops. Four others – D13, D21, D22 and D23 – were allotted to the 47th (1/2nd London) Division on the left of the New Zealanders, and of these, D13 crossed the German front line in High Wood and fired on the German support line until it was hit by a shell and caught fire, and the other three ditched. And the final three tanks – D20, D24 and D25 – supported the 50th (Northumbrian) Division on the left of 47th Division in its attack on the village of Martinpuich. Of these, D21 ditched, D24 reached its first objective but was struck by a shell and wrecked, and D25 reached its third objective, taking out three machine-guns in the process, and returned to the starting-line to refuel.

While evacuating D2 in Delville Wood, Bell was wounded by shell splinters and so could not take part in the fighting of 16 September, when the attack recommenced all along the line in the direction of Gueudecourt, two miles or so north-west of Flers. But on 25 September he took command of ‘D’ Company, and his unit’s War Diary indicates, without mentioning him by name, that on 7 October his tank was used to support the 12th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry when it assaulted the little village of Le Sars, which straddles the Pozières–Bapaume road, in order to destroy a German position called The Tangle. After helping to clear The Tangle, Bell turned his tank left at the sunken road linking Eaucourt L’Abbaye and Le Sars, where it was hit by German artillery fire and disabled. Three of the crewmen were injured by high-explosive shell fragments and, after they had baled out, the abandoned tank was destroyed by artillery fire. In the official history, the capture of Le Sars was considered a striking success and Bell’s crew were praised for their part in it.

On 13 November, when the main body of ‘D’ Company was at Auchonvillers, just to the south-west of Beaumont Hamel, the War Diary names Bell as the commander of the reserve tank when two were sent to attack the Beaumont Hamel caves in support of the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division. After the other tank ditched, Bell moved forward in support, but his tank also got bogged down in the appalling mud in the middle of no-man’s-land. Nevertheless, the two tanks continued to fire on the Germans until, finally, their crews went forward, cleared the German trenches and a redoubt, and helped the 10th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers to take over 400 prisoners, some of whom had to be winkled out of their deep underground shelters. In November 1916, the Heavy Section of the MGC was renamed the Heavy Branch of the MGC, and the Companies became Battalions: with each Battalion consisting of a headquarters, a workshop and three Companies, and each Company consisting of four sections of three tanks (i.e. a total of 36 tanks, c.100 officers and 900 other ranks).

As a result of his actions at Le Sars and Hamel, Bell was mentioned in dispatches and, like many of the experienced Section commanders, then sent back to Britain to organize and provide the command structure for one of the newly formed Battalions. So from 16 to 26 December 1916 he was in England, and on his return to France he was given command of No. 3 Section, 10 Company, ‘D’ Battalion. From January to 25 March 1917 the Battalion trained at Blangy-sur-Ternoise, c.22 miles south of St-Omer and well away from the front line. Then on 26 March it moved by train to the village of Montenescourt, about six miles east of the centre of Arras; and on 7 April, c.13 miles south-south-east to the village of Béhagnies, about two miles north of Bapaume. On 9 April 1917, the opening day of the Second Battle of Arras (9 April–16 May 1917), 60 tanks, mainly Mk 1s, were involved in the fighting, the purpose of which was to break through the Hindenburg Line and capture key villages. ‘D’ Battalion was split up between VII Corps, V Army and the Canadian Division, with Bell’s 10 Company being assigned to VII Corps, commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas D’Oyly Snow (1858–1940). During the first phase of the battle, also known as the First Battle of the Scarpe (9–14 April), Bell led three tanks from No. 3 Section in support of the 14th (Light) Division when it attacked the heavily defended position in the Hindenburg Line near Beaurains known as Telegraph Hill. Bell’s Section gained its objectives at Neuville-Vitasse and Vitasse Mill without any great difficulty, and on the following day, he again commanded No. 3 Section, but this time in support of 30th Division. His tanks advanced ahead of the infantry and invested the enemy trenches, patrolling them and keeping the Germans from resisting the British attacks for over five hours. On 12 April, the day when Bell was promoted Acting Captain (London Gazette, no. 30,203, 24 July 1917, p. 7,602), No. 3 Section attacked for a third time, this time at Hénin-sur-Cojeul, south-east of Arras, in support of 62nd Brigade in the 21st Division, as the British slowly fought their way through the Hindenburg Line.

On 30 May 1917 Bell was sent back to England again and rejoined his unit on 14 June. On 9 July his rank was increased to Temporary Captain, and after the Heavy Branch of the MGC became the Tank Corps on 27 July 1917, he was sent to England from 15 to 31 August 1917 to help form a new Machine Gun Base, after which he became Commandant of the Mechanical School until early 1918. Although he returned briefly to France, he was on leave in England from 28 February to 5 March 1918, when he became the Commanding Officer of the 7th Battalion, the 1st Brigade, the Tank Corps (originally ‘G’ Battalion, Heavy Branch, the MGC). On 20 April 1918 he was promoted Acting Major (London Gazette, no. 30,765, 25 June 1918, p. 7,550) while commanding a Company in the 11th Battalion, and seven days later he became the Commanding Officer of the 11th Battalion, which had been formed on 1 July 1917, arrived in Le Havre on 25 December 1917, and seen action near Sint Elooi, east of Ypres, earlier in April 1918. The 11th Battalion spent most of July 1918 training at Merlimont Plage, on the French coast between Berck and Le Touquet, and by 11 August 1918 it was deployed on the Arras Front and taking casualties. Although the Battalion War Diary makes no mention of Bell, an Appendix, entitled XIth (K) Tank Battalion: War History (January 1919), reads as follows:

 On the evening of August the 28th [1918], two composite Companies, consisting of a total of 9 Tanks, under Major Bell, were assembled at Neuville Vitasse, where they remained until the 31st, during which period, 2 Other Ranks were killed, and 2 Other Ranks wounded. On the 31st these Tanks moved to Wancourt [about two miles to the east], suffering en route – Died of Wounds, 1 Other Rank. On the evening of September the 1st, Tanks moved towards the starting point for the great attack on the Drocourt Quéant Switchline [a major German defensive position], between Dury and Éterprigny. Tanks arrived at starting point at 04.00 hours [on] September the 2nd, in the neighbourhood of Haucourt. During this approach march a number of Americans were attached to the Battalion for instruction. Zero hour was 05.00 hours, September 2nd[.] 4 Tanks only left the Starting Point, but all Objectives were gained with comparatively little opposition. One Tank, which broke down with mechanical trouble beyond the infantry advance, was salved a few days afterwards. Casualties were:- 1 Officer, killed; 6 Other Ranks, wounded. The Tanks that took part in this operation rallied at Wancourt. On the same afternoon, information having been received that the infantry had failed to hold the village of Dury [just north of the Roman road between Arras and Cambrai (D939)], Major Bell took up another Section of 4 Tanks. While passing through Haucourt, [at] about 17.00 hours [on 2 September 1918], Major Bell was killed by a chance shell. Soon afterwards the attack was cancelled and Tanks rallied again.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission gives Bell’s death, wrongly, as 3 September 1918. He was aged 39. He was first buried on 11 September 1918 at Orchard British Cemetery, near Blairville, four miles south of Arras; he is now buried in the huge British Cemetery at Cabaret-Rouge, Souchez, Grave 8.K.3, with the inscription: “Chorister, Schoolmaster, Soldier”. He left £462 3s 4d.

 

Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez; Grave VIII.K.3

 

Bibliography

For the books and archives referred to here in short form, refer to the Slow Dusk Bibliography and Archival Sources.

 

Special acknowledgements:

*The First Tank Crews: http://firsttankcrews.webs.com/ (© Major Stephen Pope): (accessed 13 July 2018).

 

Printed sources:

[Anon.], ‘Our Roll of Honour – XXVI’, The Pauline, 36, no. 241 (November 1918).

[Anon.], ‘Obituary’, ibid., p. 129.

Hugh Jamieson Elles, ‘Introduction’, in: Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis and Amabel Williams-Ellis, The Tank Corps (New York: George H. Doran Co., 1919), pp. v–xv (especially pp. xii–xiii).

McCarthy (1998), pp. 100–9, 131–3, 157–8.

Pope (2016), pp. vii, 24, 100, 115, 122–3, 127, 191, 203–4, 253, 259, 353, 375.

 

Archival sources:

MCA: Ms. 876 (III), vol. 1.

MCA: PR/2/13 (President’s Notebooks 1898–1900), pp. 100, 113, 299.

OUA: UR 2/1/35.

WO95/100.

WO95/110.

WO374/5511.

 

On-line sources:

Wikipedia, ‘Machine Gun Corps’: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Gun_Corps (accessed 13 July 2018).

The Long, Long Trail, ‘Tank Corps in the First World War’: http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/tank-corps-in-the-first-world-war/ (accessed 13 July 2018).