BORN HULL 24/O8/1876. SON OF GEORGE ROBERT BELL (1853-1926) AND SARAH JANE JOB (1854-1896), OF 11 KENT TERRACE, KENT STREET, HULL. SON OF A BLACKSMITH. HE HAD ONE BROTHER AND FOUR SISTERS. A TRAWLERMAN. HE WAS LOST AT SEA, ON 03/03/1917, AGED 41.
HIS WIDOW, MARGARET BELL LIVED AT 24 MAIN STREET, NEW HAVEN. EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND
HMT Northumbria, built by Cook, Welton & Gemmell, Ltd., Beverley in 1906 and operated at the time of her loss by Royal Navy, was a British navy trawler of 211 tons.
On March 3rd, 1917, HMT Northumbria was sunk by a mine from the German submarine UC-29 (Ernst Rosenow), about a mile north of May Island 56°12’25’N, 02°34’W. 5 persons were lost.
PEOPLE ON BOARD HMT ‘NORTHUMBRIA’
1. BELL, TOM , Trimmer (no. 515TS), H.M. Trawler Northumbria, Royal Naval Reserve, †03/03/1917, Memorial: Chatham Naval Memorial
2. COLLINS, GEORGE (26), Trimmer (no. 177TS), H.M. Trawler Northumbria, Royal Naval Reserve, †03/03/1917, Son of Mr. and Mrs. A. Collins, of 61, Trinity St., Grimsby, Memorial: Chatham Naval Memorial
3. HEEPS, WALTER HORACE , Trimmer (no. 1381TS), H.M. Trawler Northumbria, Royal Naval Reserve, †03/03/1917, Memorial: Portsmouth Naval Memorial
4. MANNING, RICHARD , Trimmer (no. 168TS), H.M. Trawler Northumbria.’, Royal Naval Reserve, †03/03/1917, Adopted son of Fred and Jane Elizabeth Sheard, of 58, Huntingdon St., Hull, Memorial: Chatham Naval Memorial
5. MATTHEWS, ROBERT , Second Hand (no. 323/SA), H.M. Trawler Northumbria, Royal Naval Reserve, †03/03/1917, Memorial: Grimsby (Scartho Road) Cemetery
