A PRIVATE OF THE LINE

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27896, 18 February 1956, Page 5

A PRIVATE OF THE LINE

Harry Bell, being Part One of a Family History. By Brian Stuart. Richard Bell. 272 pp. This, the tantalising life story of Harry Bell, tells of how in 1849 he renounced his relations and everything that most people want, including a family fortune of some £30,000, to join the Army as a private, of his experiences at the Battle of Alma in the Crimean War, and right through the Indian Mutiny, of h’s return to England, and of his death in poverty in London at the early age of 50 i years. His relatives included many ! distinguished people, and in the course of the book much is made of their speculations as to the reason for his decision. He steadfastly refused help of any sort from them, and at the end of the book the mystery of his decision still remains undisclosed. On the concluding page the reader is told that some 80 years later one of his grandsons stumbled on the truth, and “the story will be concluded in Part Two” (if and when this is published). From the reader’s point of view this is most unsatisfactory for the story is undoubtedly true, convincingly told and gripping in its interest. Vividly described are the horrors of Crimea and the atrocities of the Indian Mutiny, and sidelights on these epi-1 sodes in British history certainly re- ; mind us that if our blood, as a nation, , be the price of Empire, we have paid the cost in full, and owe no man anything. I