Pte. Ernest Bell, 93rd Battalion, Oct. 4, 1917

William Ernest Bell 195353

William “Ernest” Bell was born on April 11, 1889 on Lot 14, Concession 2 of Dummer Township, Ontario.  His parents, William Henry Bell and Mariah (ne. Dunk) Bell.   By 1901, William and his family moved from Dummer to Harvey Township where his father started farming.

Attestation Paper of Ernest Bell
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W. Ernest Bell enlisted in the 93^rd Battalion in Peterborough, Ontario on November 26, 1915.  He indicated his occupation as labourer, probably in a sawmill, and that he had previously served 1 year in the 45^th Regiment.  He was 26 years and 7 months old, stood 5’6” tall and weighed 134 lbs. He had a fresh complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair and listed his religion as Methodist.

Bell was unmarried at the time of enlistment, but would later wed Carrie Norish (of Lakefield, Ontario) in Peterborough on May 03, 1916, approximately three months before he left for England.  Pte. Bell, like many of the men of 93^rd Peterboro Battalion, was reorganized into the 5^th Canadian Mounted Rifles shortly after arriving in England in July of 1916.

Pte. Bell joined the 5^th Mounted Rifles in the field on September 8, 1916.  He served at the front for close to three months, when he reported sick to the No. 13 General Hospital in Boulogne with trench foot in December 1916. It was there that he was diagnosed with tuberculosis of the lungs.  He was later sent to England on the 25^th of December 1916.  He spent the bulk of 1917 in various hospitals in England suffering the effects of T.B.

He was invalided to Canada on September 26, 1917 and was sent to Mowat Sanatorium in Kingston, Ontario.  He succumbed to cardiac failure brought on by pulmonary tuberculosis on October 04, 1917 at the sanitarium.  He is buried at St. Marks Cemetery, Warsaw, Ontario.  He is commemorated on the Dummer Township Cenotaph in Warsaw, Ontario.

Sources:

Archives of Ontario. Registrations of Births and Stillbirths – 1869-1913. MS 929, reels 1-245. Toronto,

Ontario, Canada: Archives of Ontario.

Canada. "Soldiers of the First World War (1914-1918)." Record Group 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box

4930 - 35. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.

Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1891. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada,

2009. <http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/census-1891/index-e.html>. Series RG31-C-

1. Statistics Canada Fonds. Microfilm reels: T-6290 to T-6427.

Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1901. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives

Canada, 2004. Series RG31-C-1. Statistics Canada Fonds. Microfilm reels: T-6428 to T-6556.

Ontario, Canada. Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928. MS932, Reels 1-833, 850-880. Archives of

Ontario, Toronto.

War Graves Registry: Circumstances of Death Records. Record Group 150, 1992–1993/314, Boxes 145–

238. Library and Archives Canada. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.