Herbert Dobson Bell, 1887 - 1915

Herbert was born on 31st July 1887 in Bishop Auckland, County Durham and died aged 28 on 29th September 1915 from wounds suffered at the Battle of Loos, near Lens in northern France.

Prior to enlistment he was a miner by occupation and his height was given as 5ft 41/2in (1m 64cm) and weight as 126lbs (57kg).  He served with the 8th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, service number 16250, and had spent less than three weeks in the country.

Herbert's records

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) record shows that his grave is in row 1D of the Noeux-les-Mines communal cemetery and that he died on 25th September 1915, aged 29. The age is clearly wrong. Regarding his date of death, a letter to the regiment's Officer in Charge of Infantry Records in York states:

War Office List, C.611, received on 11.10.1915, reported 16250 Lce Cpl H. Bell as admitted to 6th London Field Ambulance on 28.9.1915 (G.S. [gun shot] abdomen).

A correction was then requested:

The above Named No 16250 L/Cpl H.Bell 8th (SV) Bn. E.York.R. was reported Killed in Action 26-9-15 by O.C. Battalion. The above is now cancelled, amended Rep now reads Died of Wounds 29-9-15. Reptd. by O.C. Battn 11-11-15.

Herbert's Medal Index Card (National Archive ref. WO 372/2/84497) lists the common set of medals for a serviceman of the First World War, the Star, Victory and British War Medals. The "qualifying date" for the medals is the date at which the serviceman arrived the theatre of war. In Herbert's case this was 9th September 1915 in Boulogne, France:

The MIC also records that he died of wounds ("D of W"). The British Army defined this as a delayed death as a result of war-related causes, but usually once the casualty was in the medical evacuation chain rather than on the battlefield. The time between actual wounding and death could be anything from less than a whole day to many months, or even years. Due to the high number of wounded and dead at the battle, it's not surprising that there would be some element of uncertainty over his exact date of death and his age.

The recovery of bodies from the battlefield was especially fraught with danger and confusion. Burying parties were going out onto the Loos battlefield, under the cover of darkness, as late as mid-October. The Lt Col E.W. Hermon, then billeted in nearby Noeux-les-Mines, recalls in his letters that on the night of 16th October:

I am bound for a burying party tonight, a most unpleasant duty especially as all the bodies that we are likely to find were killed on the 25th Sept. [...] I buried 41 poor fellows including a subaltern officer. [...] Well, I got back at 3am this morning alright after a very unpleasant night [...] We were working on a huge plain absolutely honeycombed with trenches, barbed wire, etc [...] I had to lead the party home across country 4500 yards [...] we were really very lucky in only losing one out of the whole party as it was rather a lively evening and bullets were going by like wasps on a summer evening.

Herbert was evacuated to the 1/6th London Field Ambulance in Noeux les Mines on the 28th September before dying of his wounds the next day.He was buried in the nearby Communal Cemetery.
Thanks to his CWGC record we were able to visit Herbert's grave in May 2013:

Like all Commonwealth war cemeteries, it is beautifully looked after. The rose came from the grave of my grandfather Gerald Fieldhouse who had been buried just the day before.

 

The formation of the 8th East Yorkshires and their route to Loos

From the Long, Long Trail site:

The 8th Battalion of the East Yorks was formed at Beverley on 22 September 1914 and came under orders of the 62nd Brigade, 21st Division.

The 21st Division was established in September 1914, as part of Army Order 388 authorising Kitchener's Third New Army, K3. The units of the Division initially concentrated in the Tring area, spending some time in camp at Halton Park before winter necessitated a move into local billets in Tring, Aylesbury, Leighton Buzzard, High Wycombe and Maidenhead. The artillery was at High Wycombe and Berkhamsted, RE at Chesham, and ASC at Dunstable.

In May 1915 the Division's infantry moved to huts at Halton Park, the artillery went to Aston Clinton (One brigade staying at Berkhamsted) and the RE to Wendover. Rifles were received in late June 1915 and after firing their first course the infantry moved from 9 August to Witley Camp. Lord Kitchener inspected the Division on the march on 12 August.

Advanced parties embarked for France began on 2 September and the main body began to cross the Channel five days later. 

The Division's first experience was truly appalling. Having been in France for only a few days, lengthy forced marches brought it into the reserve for the British assault at Loos. GHQ planning left it too far behind to be a useful reinforcement on the first day, but it was sent into action on 25 September, whereupon it suffered over 3,800 casualties for very little gain.

According to the 8th East Yorks war diary for September 1915, their movements towards the battlefield were as follows:

9th, Folkestone, 11pm: The Battalion embarked for France - on arriving at BOULOGNE marched to a rest camp - entrained at 10:30pm and detrained at WATTEN
11th, Moulle, 3am: Marched into Billets - from 11/9 to 20/9 carried on with Field Training
20th, Moulle, 7:10pm: Marched by road WITTES arriving at 2am 21/9/15 went into bivouac and rested until 7pm
[20th: "St Martin Wittes Le Pont Dupil" also shows up in other information online]
22nd, Ecquedecques, 1am ["Lespesses"]: arrived and billeted - approx 8 miles from the Trenches
[24th 7pm: they begin march towards the battle area]
25th, Noeux-les-Mines, 11am: [still some distance from the battlefield] Moved from billets - halted for an hour and at 3pm launched the attack at enemy from BETHUNE-LENS Road

The blue markers on the Google Map below show the progress of the 8th East Yorks in the two weeks prior to the Battle of Loos.

View Movements of the 8th East Yorks and 7th Borders in a larger map

In the days immediately preceding the battle the 8th East Yorks had been on the march for three nights out of five, covering a distance of about 40 miles (65km). The blue line on the map shows the route taken.

The involvement of the 8th East Yorkshire Battalion in the Battle of Loos, Herbert's first and last battle, is described in a separate post here.