Francis Howard Bell was killed in action on this day in 1917
Francis was born in Blackburn, Lancashire on 30 September 1894, the son of Thomas Penrice Bell (a commercial traveller selling rice and spices) and Elizabeth (nee Howard).
At the 1901 Census, Francis (age 6) was at home with his parents, siblings (ages 3 to 18) and a 26 year old governess.
In 1911, now 16, he was working as an apprentice greengrocer. At the time he was still living with his family at 19 Norma Rd, Waterloo.
In early 1914 Francis emigrated to Canada. He first went out to farm but subsequently moved to Vancouver and was working as a machinist at the time of his enlistment.
On 12 January 1916, he enlisted into the 15th Bn CEF (Duke of Connaught's Own) with the regimental number 645264. Enlisting in Canada, his Attestation Papers have survived; Francis was a little over 5ft 5inches tall and had brown hair and grey eyes. He was 21 years old.
He left Canada on 1 May 1916 from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the RMS Baltic, arriving in Liverpool on 11 May 1916. On the 12th, he transferred to 62nd Bn CEF and headed for Bramshott, Hants.
On 24th May, he wrote a 'Military Will', naming his mother in England as his heir.
He arrived in France, via Le Havre, 8 August 1916 and subsequently saw service in the latter stages of the Battles of the Somme and the Ancre. From 18 to 23 December he undertook a Lewis gun course then moved to the Carency sector in January 1917.
He was promoted Corporal on 11 January and killed in action two days later, along with one other soldier, near Carency, by a German trench mortar bomb either side of midnight on the 12/13 January 1917.
He was buried in Villers Station Cemetery.
464686 Cpl Francis Howard Bell, 47th Bn. Canadian Infantry