Name
William Jeffrey Sell (MM)
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
18/08/1918
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
265330
Bedfordshire Regiment
5th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Military Medal
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
HITCHIN CEMETERY
West Grave 171
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, 4 Co' Hertfordshire Reg' Territorials’ Memorial, Hitchin, Town Hall Memorial, Hitchin, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
His home was 13, Chapman's Yard, Hitchin.
Wartime Service
He volunteered in August 1914 and was given the Regimental Number 265330. He went to France in September of that year. He fought on the Marne, Aisne, Festubert, Albert and on the Somme in 1916 and was a stretcher-bearer.
He was wounded and gassed in the Advance of 1918 and was returned home where he died. His survival for four years is little short of miraculous. Strangely, he is not mentioned in the ‘Soldiers died’ database. The C.W.G.C. states that he was in the 5th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment, but he is not mentioned in that volume of ‘Soldiers died’ database either. This suggests that he may have been discharged from the army as a result of his wounds.
The award to him of the Military Medal for bravery in the field is recorded in the London Gazette 19 17-4-11342 which suggests that it resulted from bravery on the 31st July 1917 when the Hertfordshires were decimated at St. Julien.
He is buried in Hitchin Cemetery, Grave W.171.
Additional Information
The Hertfordshire's war diary records on the 27 Sept 1918: The following decorations were awarded for gallantry & devotion to duty on 31st July (39 Div. R.O. No. 1061, 1039). - these include 265330 Pte W Sell
Acknowledgments
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
