Another GGS treasure from the School Archives

In July 1918, Alan Carstairs Bell (GGS’10) was awarded both the Military Cross and the French Croix de Guerre for acts of conspicuous gallantry that included attending to wounded men and horses under very heavy fire. Bell saw action at Ploegstreet Wood, Montauban, Longueval and Delville Wood, where he was severely wounded in August 1916. Two of his three brothers died of their wounds, John (GGS’05) in December 1917 and George Russell (GGS’10), also a recipient of the Military Cross and who was wounded only a week before war’s end in November 1918.

After leaving GGS, where he was senior prefect and an accomplished sportsman, Bell went to Jesus College, Cambridge where he read mechanical science and won medals for rowing. On the outbreak of war in 1914 he enlisted in the British Expeditionary Force, gaining a commission in the Royal Field Artillery. The Bell family are among the school’s most generous benefactors. Their numerous gifts include the Lunan Gates (1911), the Music School (1938), the Gladys Bell Room (1965), and the John and Russell Bell memorial windows in the chapel (1931).