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9626 2nd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment
Clarence Bell was born in Sudbury in 1893, the son of Ernest and Laura Bell. His father was an innkeeper at the Halfmoon Inn in Gregory Street. By 1911 his widowed mother was working as a domestic cook in Bures, she remarried in 1916 and moved to Ipswich.
Clarence was a regular soldier, in 1911 serving with the York and Lancaster Regiment and stationed at Blackdown, Farnborough in Hampshire. He first served in France on 9 September 1914 which indicates he was either still a regular soldier or a reservist.
At the outbreak of war the battalion was in Limerick and returned to Cambridge for training before landing in France in the September to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) at Aisne. The battalion which formed part of 16th Brigade, 6th Division was involved in the Race for the Sea when the BEF raced to prevent the German Army reaching the coastal ports. They saw action at the Battle of Armentieres (13 October – 2 November 1914) when they were positioned south of the town. They were forced back gradually by the enemy and the opposing armies then became entrenched in the positions held by late 1914.
Clarence died aged 21 on 23 October 1914. There is no known grave and he is remembered on the Ploegsteert Memorial, near Ypres, Belgium.
He was awarded the 1914 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.
A Cross of Remembrance was laid at the Ploegsteert Memorial in April 2009.
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