Friends of the Somme - Mid Ulster Branch  
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Updates for Private Thomas Bell
Date Information
01/05/2020 02040
11/12/2016 The 1911 census lists Thomas as age 14, living with the family at house 32 in Gortalowry, Cookstown. Three of the family was now working as weavers, one as a winder. Thomas was a weaver.
11/12/2016 Thomas Bell was the second son of James and Mary Bell. James Bell married Mary Teaney on 3rd May 1890 in the district of Cookstown.
11/12/2016 Thomas was born on 2nd September 1896 in the Coagh area. He was one of eleven children, seven surviving. All were born in the Coagh area.
11/12/2016 Known family: James Bell, Mary Bell, Sarah Bell (born 22nd January 1891), James Bell (born 25th August 1892), Matilda Tillie Bell (born 19th August 1894), Thomas Bell (born 2nd September 1896), Annie Bell (born 4th September 1898), Joseph ‘Marcus’ Bell (born 26th July 1900, died 14th October 1904), Hugh Robert Bell (born 24th April 1902), Mary Bell (born 4th April 1905), Willie Bell (born 19th March 1907).
11/12/2016 Sometime between 1907 and 1911 the family moved to Cookstown.
11/12/2016 Thomas Bell enlisted with the 2nd Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in Glasgow in January 1917.
11/12/2016 His brother James Bell had previously been wounded and returned to the Western Front.
11/12/2016 Private Bell was seriously wounded in September 1917 and was with his close friend Private Francis Hampsey when he fell.
11/12/2016 Private Thomas Bell was taken to hospital in Vuerne and died of his wounds there on 28th September 1917.
11/12/2016 Private Thomas Bell is buried at Coxyde Military Cemetery, Belgium.
11/12/2016 In his will, Tommy Bell left all to his father, who was living in Chapel Street, Cookstown.
11/12/2016 Private Francis Hampsey survived the war and returned to Cookstown. His elder brother James Bell also survived the war.
11/12/2016 The CWGC record Private Thomas Bell as the son of James and Mary Bell of Chapel Street, Cookstown, County Tyrone.
11/12/2016 Thomas Bell is commemorated on Cookstown Cenotaph.
11/12/2016 The 1901 census lists Thomas as age 4, living with the family at house 17 in Mullaghwotragh, Munterevlin, in the Ardboe area. His father was a labourer.
10/12/2016 Last Will and Testament of Private Thomas Bell - not dated
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10/12/2016 In the event of my death, I leave all that I have to my father, James Bell, Chapel Street, Cookstown, County Tyrone, Ireland. Signed 31237 Private Tommy Bell, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
10/12/2016
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