=BEERLING, THOMAS WILLIAM=, A.B., J. 6394, H.M.S. Cressy; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=BEESLEY, DICK=, Stoker, 1st Class (R.F.R., B. 8589), S.S. 104951, H.M.S. Hogue; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=BEGG, ALEXANDER=, Leading Stoker (R.F.R., B. 2583), 282446 (Ports.), H.M.S. Hogue; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=BEGLEY, DENIS FRANCIS=, Gunner (Immed. Class, R.F.R., 96), H.M.S. Good Hope; lost in the action off Coronel, on the coast of Chili, 1 Nov. 1914.
=BEHENNA, WILLIAM HENRY=, Private, No. 1311, 3rd Battn. Australian Imperial Force, _s._ of William Henry Behenna; _b._ Blackheath, co. Kent, 23 Jan. 1889; educ. there; went to Australia, and joined the Commonwealth Expeditionary Force in Sept. 1914; killed in action at Lone Pine, Gallipoli, 7 Aug. 1915; _unm._
=BEHRENS, ROBERT PHILIP=, Lieut., 2nd Battn. South Wales Borderers (24th Regt.), eldest _s._ of George Benjamin Behrens, of Vron Yw, Denbigh, J.P., by his wife, Helen Elizabeth, dau. of John Morgan Davies, of Froodvale, Carmarthen, D.L., J.P.; _b._ ... 4 Dec. 1893; educ. at Cordwalles, Maidenhead, under the Rev. C. R. Carter, from 1905–07 at Winchester (Mr. Nowell Smith’s, afterwards Mr. Irving’s house), and Sandhurst; gazetted 2nd Lieut. 5 Feb. 1912, being temporarily attached to the 1st Battn. South Wales Borderers till Sept., when he went out in charge of a draft to Tientsin to join the 2nd Battn.; promoted Lieut. 17 Sept. 1914, and was present with his regiment at the capture of Tsing-tau that autumn. He was shot at the landing at de Totts’ Battery, in Gallipoli on Sunday, 25 April, 1915, and was buried at sea at the entrance to the Dardanelles from H.M.S. Cornwallis; _unm._ His Colonel wrote that, even as he lay mortally wounded, he continued to encourage his men to press forward. At Winchester, Behrens rowed stroke in his house-boat in 1910, and was champion middle-weight boxer, and at Sandhurst he was head of his company in riding and one of the Sandhurst representatives in the sabreing competition at the Royal Military Tournament in 1912.
[Illustration: =Robert Philip Behrens.=]
=BELCHER, ALBERT=, Private, No. 9781, 2nd Battn. Royal Scots (Lothian Regt.); served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders; killed in action near Ypres, 3 June, 1915; _m._
=BELCHIER, FRANK ELLIOT, M.C.=, Capt., 1st East Lancashire Regt., yst. _s._ of the late Henry Nathaniel Belchier, of the London Stock Exchange, by his wife, Mary Helen (Elm Lodge, Surbiton Hill Road, Surbiton), dau. of John Allenby, of Naburn, co. Yorks; _b._ Surbiton, 24 June, 1891; educ. Wellesley House, Broadstairs, Marlborough, and Sandhurst; entered the Army, 4 March, 1911, promoted Lieut. 27 Dec. following, and Capt. 15 Nov. 1914, and was for some time Acting Adjutant of the battn., resigning that position, 23 Dec. 1914. He was killed in action at Ypres, 20 May, 1915; _unm._, and was buried at the Irish farm near that place. Capt. Belchier was mentioned in F.M. Sir John French’s Despatch [London Gazette, 17 Feb. 1915], and was awarded the Military Cross in recognition of his services in the field in Feb. 1915. A fellow officer wrote: “As Adjutant he had special work and did splendidly all through the retreat on Paris and afterwards.”
[Illustration: =Frank Elliot Belchier.=]
=BELDHAM, ARTHUR=, A.B., J. 5870, H.M.S. Good Hope; lost in the action off Coronel, on the coast of Chili, 1 Nov. 1914.
=BELDOM, GEORGE NOAH=, Private, No. 2390, 2nd Battn. East Surrey Regt.; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; was reported missing, 9 May, 1915, and is now assumed to have been killed in action on that date; _m._
=BELL, ALAN ROBERT=, Private, No. 77438, 7th (British Columbia) Battn., Canadian Expeditionary Force, yst. _s._ of the late Thomas Best Bell, of Netherall, Sidcup, General Manager and Secretary of the Lion Fire Insurance Company, of London, by his wife, Mary (St. John’s Lodge, Sevenoaks), dau. of Robert Williams Soady, of Lincoln’s Inn, Barrister-at-Law; _b._ Surbiton, 11 April, 1885; educ. Shrewsbury House School, Surbiton, and Bradfield College, Berks; was for three years with the Royal Exchange Assurance, London, and afterwards studied poultry farming and went to Alberta, and from there to Duncan, Vancouver Island, where he took up land surveying. He enlisted in the 30th Battn. of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in Sept. 1914, left for England 14 Feb. 1915, and was drafted into the 7th Battn., crossing to France on 2 May, 1915. He was killed in action in the attack on the position known as K5, at Festubert, 24 May, 1915, and was buried there in the rear of the first British line. The Chaplain, the Rev. Wm. Barton, wrote that his “company was in the reserve trench, which was subjected to a pitiless hail of high explosives and shrapnel for nine hours on 24 May, and the casualties were heavy. The marvel was not that many were killed and wounded, but that any of them came out alive.” And the sergt. of his platoon, Sergt. J. H. Cleland, wrote of him: “He was a splendid fellow, greatly liked by us all, and became a good soldier. His calmness and fortitude under a very heavy shell fire at Festubert were splendid, and when I look back and realise that they were all with the sole exception of myself new to active service, I can only say I am very proud to have been in charge of such a splendid lot of fellows.”
[Illustration: =Alan Robert Bell.=]
=BELL, ALBERT HENDERSON=, Assistant Paymaster, R.N.R., H.M.S. Goliath, yr. _s._ of the late Frederick Bell, of Itchen, Hants, by his wife, Louisa Maud (Woolston, Southampton), dau. of Henry Dampier, late of Winchester; _b._ Itchen, 29 Aug. 1886; educ. Woolston College; was a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and was associated with the firm of Messrs. Deloitte Plender, Griffiths & Co., of London; joined the R.N.R. in 1910, and was lost in the Goliath at the Dardanelles, 12 May, 1915; _unm._
=BELL, ALBERT WILLIAM=, Private, No. 19001, 1st Battn. King’s Own Scottish Borderers, _s._ of Joseph Henry Bell, of 40, Fountas Street, Leeds, Drayman, by his wife, Mary, dau. of (--) Dobson, of Scarborough; _b._ Leeds, 30 May, 1891; educ. Park Lane Council School there; was a goods porter in the service of the London & North Western Railway; enlisted 5 Jan. 1915; left England for the Dardanelles, 25 May, 1915, and died 11 Aug. 1915, from wounds received in action there. He _m._ at Leeds, 28 July, 1914, Lilly (35, Fountain Street, Leeds), dau. of Fred Hartley, and had a son, James, _b._ 18 Sept. 1914.
=BELL, ALEXANDER=, Private, No. 14162, Royal Scots (Lothian Regt.), _s_. of Alexander Bell, of Bridgeton, Glasgow; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; killed in action near Ypres, 25 Sept. 1915.
=BELL, ALEXANDER MURRAY-MACGREGOR=, Capt., 1st Battn. Royal Scots Fusiliers, 2nd _s._ of William Bell, of 26, Albert Place, Stirling, Lieut.-Col. late 56th Regt. (now 2nd Essex and Army Pay Dept.), by his wife, Isabel Margaret, dau. of Major-Gen. Evan Murray-MacGregor, Bombay Cavalry; _b._ Weymouth, 4 Sept. 1880; educ. Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Kingston, and Stirling High School; gazetted 2nd Lieut. 3rd (Militia) Battn. of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 30 Dec. 1901, served with them in South Africa, 1 Feb.-23 Sept. 1902, receiving the South African medal with two clasps. He was gazetted to the Royal Garrison Artillery, 4 Feb. 1903, and was transferred to the Dorset Regt., 6 May, 1905. On 8 Jan. 1907, he was promoted Lieut. and posted to Royal Scots Fusiliers, and became Capt. 28 May, 1912. From May, 1904, to May, 1905, was A.D.C. to the Governor of Natal, and Superintendent Gymnasia, Scottish Command, Feb. 1913–Nov. 1914, when he rejoined his regt. in Flanders, and was appointed Adjutant of the 1st Battn., Dec. 1914. He died in London, 28 April. 1915, of wounds received in action near Ypres, 19 Feb. preceding; _unm._ The officer commanding his Battn. wrote: “The regt. was moving across some open ground under heavy shell fire, and your son and I were together at the moment we were both knocked over. He was hit on the back and right arm. I can only assure you that his gallantry and devotion to duty has been most marked.” Capt. Bell was mentioned in F.M. Sir John French’s Despatch of 31 May, 1915.
[Illustration: =A. Murray-MacGregor Bell.=]
=BELL, (ALFRED) RAY LANCASTER=, 2nd Lieut., 5th. attd. 2nd. Battn. Royal Dublin Fusiliers, only child of Alfred Bell, of 23, Morehampton Road, Dublin, formerly of Ardcarne, Ballinasloe, co. Galway, by his wife, Annie Ray Bell, dau. of James Bell, Lieut., 3rd Buffs, nephew of the late Major Lancaster Bell, R.A., and grandson of Capt. James Bell, of the 64th Regt.; _b._ Ballinasloe, 10 Feb. 1896; educ. at St. George’s and Rosse Colleges, Dublin. He entered the Army on the outbreak of war; was gazetted 2nd Lieut. to the 5th Battn. of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers 15 Aug. 1914, and was attached to the 2nd Battn. then at the Front, May, 1915. He reached the firing line on 15 May, was wounded by shrapnel in the lung at the second Battle of Ypres on the 17th, and d. four hours later in the 12th Field Ambulance, near Vlamertynghe. He was _unm._ and was buried in the military cemetery there.