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Auction: 18003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 372

Three: Private J. A. Bell, Essex Regiment, who served at Gallipoli and was discharged in March 1916 whilst his regiment guarded the coast railway from Alexandria to Da'aba

1914-15 Star (1491 Pte. J. A. Bell, Essex. R.); British War and Victory Medals (1491 Pte. J. A. Bell, Essex. R.), very fine (3)


John A. Bell served with the 7th Battalion, Essex Regiment in the Balkans from 11 August 1915. The 7th Battalion was employed on home coastal defence duties until May 1915, when the 54th Division began to concentrate around St. Albans and prepare for overseas service. 161 Brigade sailed from Devonport with two companies of 1/7th Battalion embarked in H.M.T. Southland and the remainder in the S.S. Braemar Castle; the two vessels rendezvoused at Imbros on 10 August and the Battalion landed at 'A' Beach, Suvla Bay, after midnight on 11-12 August.

The 1/7th Essex went straight into the reserve line and on 14 August advanced over open ground to relieve the Norfolks and Suffolks after a disastrous attack. The Essex Brigade's historian, Ray Westlake writes in Gallipoli, 'Though they were met with a fusillade as they advanced steadily over the plain, there was no hesitation'. The Battalion next took over 'Jephson's Post', followed by Hill 60, described by one of the officers as 'notoriously one of the most unpleasant spots on the peninsula'.

On the night of 26-27 November 1915, the Essex Regiment was relieved by the Gurkhas and the New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade, the relief being delayed by a severe rainstorm that flooded the trenches; after a few days in the rest area, 54 Division marched down to the beach and embarked for Mudros, from where it later sailed to Alexandria and became involved in the Senussi Campaign; John Bell was discharged on 22 March 1916.


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£65