MAJOR E.J. BELL, 1/5th (DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY) BATTALION, KING'S OWN SCOTTISH BORDERERS. Five: 1914-15 Star (officially impressed: MAJOR E.J. BELL. K.O. SCO. BORD.) British War and Victory Medals (officially impressed: MAJOR E.J. BELL) 1935 Jubilee Medal (unnamed, as issued) Territorial Decoration 1908, George V, with its original top suspender brooch (reverse hallmarked London 1919). Minor pitting to obverse field of 1914-15 Star, otherwise generally Extremely Fine.
Edward John Bell, T.D. (1875-1954) was born in 1875 in Langholm, Dumfries-shire. He was first commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, 3rd (Dumfries) Volunteer Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers, 8/7/1896, promoted Lieutenant, 17/2/1897, and Captain, 16/5/1900. Bell was promoted Major, 5th (Dumfries and Galloway) Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers, 1/11/1912. Major Bell first saw service during WW1 in the Balkans (Gallipoli), entering that theatre of operations on 6/6/1915 (the 1/5th (Dumfries & Galloway) Battalion KOSB landed at Gallipoli as a unit on 6/6/1915 and saw service in Gallipoli with the 155th Brigade 52nd (Lowland) Division).
In Gallipoli Major Bell was dangerously wounded (lung) on 12/7/1915 (first day, battle of Achi Baba Nullah). He was subsequently invalided and saw service exclusively at home for the remainder of the war and in the post-war years was appointed Temporary Honourary Lieutenant, 1/1/1919, whilst employed by the Navy and Army Canteen Board. Major Bell resigned his commission in the early 1920s.
The battle of Achi Baba Nullah was the 1/5th Battalion KOSB's baptism of fire at Gallipoli. Captain Stair Gillon records the 155th Infantry Brigade suffering a total of 1,268 casualties during the action at Achi Baba Nullah, the 1/5th King's Own Scottish Borderers losing 6 officers killed and 5 officers wounded. Major Bell was the battalion's highest ranking casualty. The 1/5th battalion's losses on 12/7/1915 were so great that it played only a minor role in the remainder of the Gallipoli campaign and was evacuated from the peninsula on 7/1/1916.
Major Bell is recorded in the 1901 Scotland census as a 25 year old woolen manufacturer, resident in Langholm with his 27 year old wife and 9 month old son. In both the pre and post-war years Major Bell was a partner in the firm Arthur Bell & Company, Woollen Manufacturers, at Langholm. The firm of Arthur Bell & Co, of Langholm, was founded by Edward Bell's father, Arthur Bell (1843-1929) and was dissolved during WW2 on 30/6/1942. At the time of the company's dissolution, Major Bell was the only son of the founder still involved in running the mill, all the other members of the Bell family employed in the mill being relatives of his.
Edward Bell was for many years a councillor serving on Langholm council and in 1939 was elected Provost (Mayor) of Langholm.
Major Bell was twice married. He married firstly, on 17/8/1898, Eleanor Church Little (1873-1915). Major Bell married secondly, 10/10/1939, whilst Provost of Langholm Bell, Elizabeth Richardson Cairns, the second daughter of a previous Provost Cairns Langholm.
Major Bell's death was announced in the Berwickshire General Advertiser, 9/3/1954, page 5 "Bell, Hillside, Langholm, March 5th 1954. Edward John Bell, J.P., Major 5th K.O.S.B., ex Provost of Langholm."
The 1/5th (Dumfries & Galloway) Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers was at Dumfries when war broke out on 8/4/1914 and sailed from Liverpool for Mudros on 21/5/1915, arriving at Mudros on 29/5/1915 and landing at Gallipoli as a unit on 6/6/1915. The battalion was evacuated from Gallipoli on 7/1/1916, arriving at Mudros the same day, and subsequently saw service in Egypt and France.
