464686 Cpl Francis Howard Bell, A Coy, 47th Bn CEF.
A machinist from Vancouver, British Columbia, Francis was born in Blackburn, Lancashire on 30 September 1895. He emigrated to Canada before the war to take up farming, but he changed occupation upon the outbreak of war following his move to Vancouver. Francis initially enlisted into the 158th Bn CEF (Duke of Connaught's Own) with the regimental number 645264 on 12 January 1916. He transferred to the 62nd Bn before seeing overseas service on the Western Front with the 47th with which he saw service in the latter stages of the Battle of the Somme and the Ancre before moving to the Carency sector by January 1917.
Francis was killed in action, along with one other soldier, near Carency, by a German trench mortar bomb in the early morning of 13 January 1917 and he now lies buried in Villers Station Cemetery.
13 January 1917
Research by David O'Mara, Croonaert Research Services.
