Northumberland Archives

William Bell was born in February 1900 at the family home in Sycamore Street, New Hirst, Ashington. He was the third child (only son) to William and Agnes who also had five daughters. By the time that William reached school age at five years, the family had moved to Severn Street, New Hirst, Ashington. He attended the local school and at age thirteen years, he left to take up employment at one of the local collieries, possibly nearby Woodhorn Colliery where his deceased father had worked.

Nothing is known of William until just after his seventeenth birthday. Like thousands of young men, he was desperate to enlist to ‘do his bit for King and Country’. It is not known if he had his mother’s permission but on the 21st May 1917, he travelled into Newcastle upon Tyne where he enlisted in the Royal Marines Light Infantry. His service record shows that he was 17 years 3 months and 14 days of age and that by profession, he was a coal miner. The record goes on to describe him as being 5 feet 53/4 inches in height with brown eyes, brown hair and a fresh complexion. He had no distinguishing scars or marks on his body.

Being under the age of 18 years, he was unable to take part in active service. His record shows that he was based at the Royal Marines Light Infantry Depot, Deal, Kent for training from his enlistment until the 28th November 1917. He then transferred to the Marines depot at Portsmouth where he underwent further training until 3rd May 1918. His record shows that he was classed as ‘very good’ in infantry and musketry drills and his sea going gunnery skills were also classed as ‘very good’.

By now, as William was eighteen years of age, he was able to go on active service. On the 4th May 1918, he joined the Marines aboard the battleship HMS Canada, part of the Royal Navy’s 1st Battle Squadron. By October 1918, HMS Canada was with the British Grand Fleet which was preparing for a major sea battle with the German Navy, a battle that never took place due to mutiny aboard the German ships. William remained on board HMS Canada until she returned to Portsmouth on the 29th March 1919
The 4th April 1919, saw William joining Marines aboard HMS Glory, a battleship that was the Flagship of the British North Russia Squadron and had been stationed at the White Sea (Russia) port of Archangel since 1916. The primary role of HMS Glory was to ensure that urgently needed supplies reached the Russian Army in their fight on the Eastern Front against the Germans. However, the Bolshevik revolution of March 1917 greatly complicated the British position in northern Russia. For a brief period the British fleet and Royal Marines cooperated with the Bolsheviks against the Finns and their German allies, helping to move reinforcements and equipment to exposed parts of Northern Russia. This ended in November 1917 when the Bolsheviks declared Russia as being neutral and ceased fighting against the German Army. The Eastern Front Army were then diverted to the Western Front which caused great alarm amongst the Allies. The Allies decided that the troops in Northern Russia would support the Russian White Army in their fight against the Bolsheviks. The hope was that the White Army would overcome the Bolsheviks and that Russia would re-join the Allies, forcing the Germans to move men back to the Eastern Front.

The Allies continued to fight alongside the White Russian Army, but by January 1919, they found themselves being pushed back to Archangel. It was soon after this that a decision was made that all Allied troops would be withdrawn, leaving the White Russians to fight the Bolsheviks alone. Allied reinforcements in the form of Royal Marines (including William) arrived to assist in the withdrawal of all Allied troops. The withdrawal continued over the next six months until finally HMS Glory left Archangel at the beginning of October arriving back at Portsmouth on the 8th October.

William remained in Portsmouth until his discharge on the 17th November 1919 when he then returned to the family home in Ashington.

It is not known what William did for work when he arrived home, but as his mother was a widow, it is highly likely that he returned to his earlier profession as a coal miner.

William married Isabella Gray in 1928 and it is known from the 1931 baptism record of their first daughter that William was the publican of the Station Hotel in Blyth. The family were still there at the time of the birth of their second daughter in 1936.

By 1938, William was the manager of the North Seaton Hotel, Ashington, a position that he kept for several years, possibly until his death in 1947.

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Allan Robinson for supplying this article for our Northumberland At War Project.

At the outbreak of First World War, under the terms of the Alien Registration Act and British Nationality Act, all aliens over the age of 16 were required to register at local police stations and to demonstrate a good character and knowledge of English. This was due in part to a fear of spies. Those registering were required to provide details of name, address, marital status and employment as well as information about their background and origins. Northumberland Archives holds almost 300 ‘aliens files’ amongst the records of Northumberland Constabulary (ref: NC/3/46-48). One of our project volunteers, Hilary Love, has looked at some of the files and written this article about one of the cases recorded.
No, the Archives hasn’t been invaded by little green men! There are numerous files stored at Woodhorn giving details of a wide range of people, from travelling musicians to miners, designated as Aliens in Northumberland during World War One. They give a fascinating glimpse into their nationalities and lives, the bureaucracy and paperwork involved in recording their movements and the mindset and suspicions towards any foreigner, regardless of how long they may have lived in England.
They can also be frustrating as the records only record their lives while they are in Northumberland so, once they have moved out of the County, there is no record of what happened to them.
One example is a file relating to Helene Grundmann, a Governess, who, in September 1914, applied for a permit to travel to Cornhill on Tweed. There was no objection to her residing at the Manse, Crookham and a letter from the Superintendent at Alnwick Police Office explained that she was the sister of the Reverend Moses Forsyth’s wife.
The Alnwick Police Office wrote to the Chief Constable of Northumberland in November 1914 to inform him that they had received a letter from J. Fenwick in Longframlington pointing out that there were Germans at Crookham Manse and that the Vicar of Branxton had declared that he could send messages to Germany through his agent in Holland. The clergy were obviously not above suspicion!
The Superintendent at Alnwick explained that the Reverend Forsyth’s wife was German and that she did not need to register at the time that the Act came into operation. Her sister had come from London and all her papers were in order. He didn’t know anything about the Vicar of Branxton but would make private enquiries and report back to the Chief Constable.
Enquiries were duly made and the report referring to the Vicar of Branxton, the Reverend Charles Ernest Hoyle, gave details of a letter he had read out at one of his meetings in the Reading Room at Branxton on 26th October 1914, which he’d received from a German lady. She had stayed with Reverend Hoyle in the summer but had gone back to Germany when war broke out. The letter stated that “this lady didn’t intend to speak to an Englishman again. England had been the cause of the war.” The Superintendant made it clear that Reverend Hoyle in no way favoured the Germans and no mention had been made of Belgian refugees or of an Agent in Holland.
The War Office then entered the picture and wrote to Fullarton James, Chief Constable, in September 1918, and asked him what he knew of Mrs. Moses Forsyth: “Is she of German origin and is there any truth in the statement that she is exerting a very harmful influence over the minds of the village people by inculcating sentiments of disloyalty and anti-patriotism.”

The reply from the Superintendent, Alnwick Police Office, dated 1st October, 1918, states that Mrs. Forsyth is a German by birth but has been married to Mr. Forsyth for some years. “…. from enquiries made, I am quite certain that there is no truth in the statement that she is exerting a very harmful influence …. I am of the opinion that this complaint comes from the Church of England in the district by Mrs. Florence Neville, (a former Vicar’s wife), now of 8 Manor Head, Oxford, who was at one time resident at Ford, which is in the Crookham district. The district is a very small population and I cannot see what influence she could have over them; it is nothing to my mind but a case of petty spite.”

The final document, dated 23rd January 1923, is addressed to Miss H. Grundmann, returning her passport which had been re-endorsed to enable her to remain in the United Kingdom until 7th May 1923.

This is only one of many cases which are available at Woodhorn. Some contain very little and others contain many documents and give enough detail, covering several years, to piece together a good picture of the life of a registered Alien during the War.

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Hilary Love for supplying this article for our Northumberland At War Project.