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Name: BELL, Frederick William VC (Lieut.-Col.)

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Birth Date: 3 Apr 1875 Perth, W. Australia

Death Date: 28 Apr 1954 Bristol

First Date: 1919

Last Date: 1925

Profession: DC

Area: 1922 Narok, PO Naivasha, 1925 Ngong, 1922 DC Nyeri

Married: 1. In Hampstead 1922 Mabel Mackenzie Valentini née Skinner b. 29 Apr 1866 St Leonards on Sea, d. 14 Feb 1944 Symonds Yat; 2. In Forest of Dean 20 Feb 1945 Brenda Margaret Illingworth b. 16 July 1890 Bradford, d. 1982 Droitwich (prev. m. to George Edwin Agnew Cracklow 1872-1931)

Book Reference: KAD, Red 25, Hut, EA & Rhodesia, Red 22, Gazette, Red 19

War Service: West Australian Mounted Infantry in Boer War

School: A.D. Letch's Prep School; govt school, Perth

General Information:

Tignor - 1925 - Col. Bell - so critical of government policies that he was censured and retired from the Colonial Service.
East Africa & Rhodesia - 6/5/54 - Lieut-Col. Frederick William Bell, VC, who died at Bristol last week at the age of 79, had served as a political officer in British Somaliland, Kenya, and Nigeria. When he left the Colonial Service in 1925, Lord Delamere moved a resolution in a Kenya Legislature drawing attention to "the reprimand and notice of termination of his services given by the Government to Lieut.-Colonel F.W. Bell, VC., a district commissioner, following his evidence before the Masai Inquiry Commission". The Government replied that retirement had been recommended before the inquiry because Colonel Bell had reached the normal age limit. He won the Victoria Cross for conspicuous gallantry at Brakpan during the South African war.
Gazette 15/1/1913 - Arrived on 1st Appointment - F.W. Bell - Asst. Dist. Commissioner - 26/12/1912
Red Book 1919 - F W Bell, VC - Asst. Dist. Com., Secretariat - Nairobi
KAD 1922 - District and Resident Commissioner and Resident Magistrate
Gazette - 14/10/1925 - Departed on Termination - District Commissioner - Col. F.W. Bell
Wife was called Mabel Mackenzie Valentine in 1901 census
Wikipedia: He was 26 years old, and a lieutenant in the West Australian Mounted Infantry during the Second Boer War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On 16 May 1901 at Brakpan, Transvaal, South Africa, 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, Lieutenant Bell then remained behind and covered the man's retirement till he was out of danger.
Following the end of the war, he went to the United Kingdom and received the decoration from the Prince of Wales during a large coronation parade of colonial troops in London on 1 July 1902. Bell died on 28 April 1954, and was buried in Canford Cemetery, Bristol, England. The Frederick Bell ward at the former Repatriation General Hospital, Hollywood was named in his honour.
Victoria Cross online: Frederick William Bell (1875-1954) was born on 3rd April 1875 in Perth, son of Henry Thomas Bell, clerk, and his wife Alice Agnes, née Watson. Educated at A. D. Letch’s preparatory school and at the government school, Perth, he joined the Western Australian Public Service in November 1894 as a cadet in the Department of Customs where he later became a cashier.
On the outbreak of the South African War in October 1899 Bell enlisted as a private in the 1st West Australian (Mounted Infantry) Contingent. He first saw action at Slingersfontein, and later took part in the relief of Johannesburg and of Pretoria and the battles of Diamond Hill and Wittebergen; on 19th July 1900, in a sharp engagement at Palmeitfontein, he was seriously wounded and was invalided to England. He returned to Perth in February 1901, was commissioned lieutenant in the 6th Contingent on 8 March, and re-embarked for South Africa. On 16th May at Brakpan, Transvaal, while his unit was retreating under heavy fire, he went back for a dismounted man and took him up on his horse. The animal fell under the extra weight and Bell, after insisting that his companion take the horse, covered his retreat; for this action he received the Victoria Cross—the first awarded to a Western Australian.
After his discharge in May 1902, Bell joined the Australian section of the coronation escort for King Edward VII. He then settled in Perth but returned to England, joined the colonial service in 1905 and was appointed to British Somaliland as an assistant district officer in April. Made an assistant political officer later that year he held the post until 1910. While in Somaliland he took up big-game hunting and in 1909 narrowly escaped death when he was badly mauled by a lion. He was assistant resident in Nigeria in 1910-12 and from then until the outbreak of World War I was an assistant district commissioner in Kenya. In 1914 Bell, who had been commissioned in the 4th Reserve Regiment of Cavalry in August 1907, served in France with the Royal Irish Dragoon Guards. He was mentioned in dispatches and promoted captain in October 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 at Plymouth. Two of his three brothers were killed in action with the Australian Imperial Force.
After the war Bell returned to the colonial service as a district commissioner in Kenya. In May 1922 in London he married a divorcee Mabel Mackenzie Valentini, née Skinner, and in 1925 went into retirement in England. His wife died in 1944 and on 20th February 1945 he married a widow Brenda Margaret Cracklow, née Illingworth. He revisited Western Australia in 1947. His wife survived him when he died at Bristol on 28th April 1954. He was buried in Canford Cemetery. His medal group was laced for sale at a Spink auction in Canada in 1984 and was purchased by the Government of Western Australia for historical reasons as Frederick Bell had been born in Perth the capital of the State of Western Australia in 1875. Since 1984 the Bell VC medal group has been lodged with the Western Australia Museum in Perth.
In July 2016, a decision was made to loan the Frederick Bell Victoria Cross group to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra for a period of around three years. The VC group has gone on display in the AWM’s Hall of Valour. It is now back in Perth.

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