John Mcdowall Bell - 4th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers

[Conor Oldroyd]

Hi Everyone,

I was hoping to get some help finding some war records or information regarding my 2x Great Grandfather John Mcdowall Bell.

John was born around 1887 in Ayr, and was married to Georgina Lumsden in 1909. His official name was simply "John Bell" but he occasionaly shows up as John Mcdowall Bell (McDowall being his mothers' maiden name)

On the death certificate of one of his daughters on July 1st 1917, it describes John as being an Iron Moulder, and in brackets - "A Private in the 4th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers."

 Due to John Bell being one of the most common names in the country at the time It has been extremely difficult for me to locate him in any records, and suprisingly just as hard finding information on his battalion during the war. It would appear that the 4th Bn RSF served in the Dardanelles in 1915, but I cannot be certain that he would be in the battalion at the time. Would anyone be able to help me on this one? It would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Conor Oldroyd

[newburychap]

The 4th RSF is one of those confusing Territorial battalions - or rather 3 battalions.  The 1st/4th Bn served at Gallipoli in 1915 and eventually moved to France in 1918.  The 2nd/4th and 3rd/4th never left the UK. See http://www.1914-1918.net/rsfus.htm

So this chap may never have entered a theatre of war - which would mean no medals, and hence no entry in the medal rolls.  Such soldiers are incredibly difficult to research unless their service or pension records are among the few that survive. Add in a very common name like John Bell and it really is needle in the haystack time.

Some regimental records are a lot better than others, it is always worth checking with the regimental museum - http://rhf.org.uk/rhf/

[km1971]

Hi Conor

His daughter's death certificate will give you an address which you should use to check the electoral roll for him. The one for 1918-19 may have a separate list for absent soldiers. Otherwise the standard list may give some details about him. The local Record Office can advise and may do a lookup for you.

This is the only man I can find in the 4th Battalion. - http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1644395/BELL,%20J

The 4th Bn were renumbered with a number in the block 200001 to 240000 in March 1917.

Ken

[Conor Oldroyd]

Thank you both for your help on this one guys. Looks like there were at least 6 people named "J Bell" in the 4th Scots Fusiliers during ww1 so i definitely have a lot of digging on my hands. I know that he survived the war, so i have that to work with i suppose.

Cheers

Conor