Duncan Peter Bell-Irving (1888 - 1915)

Born 3 Jan 1888 in Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom [uncertain]

Ancestors

Died 26 Feb 1915 at age 27 in Belgium

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Biography

Duncan Bell-Irving was born in Hertfordshire, England.

Lt Duncan Peter Bell-Irving was the eldest child born to Duncan Bell-Irving and Ethel Hulbert. He was the first British Columbia Land Surveyor and the first British Columbia officer killed in the WWI. ... He graduated from the Royal Military College, Kingston, in 1908. He was articled to Mr. G.H Dawson, B.C.L.S., former Surveyor General, and obtained his commission as a BC Land Surveyor in 1913. He entered into partnership with the late Caprain K.C.C Taylor, D.S.O., B.C.L.S. under the firm name of “Taylor and Bell-Irving” of Vancouver. He was engaged on a Government survey on the Naas River when war broke out and he immediately made arrangements to come to Vancouver to enlist. He went overseas as a Lieutenant in the Canadian Engineers and reached France in January 1915. On February 25th, while in charge of a working party, he was shot by a sniper and died the same night.^[1]

He served with the 2nd Field Company, Canadian Engineers, in Belgium, when he was killed in action 26 February 1915. Buried adjacent to a battlefield at Armentieres, then re-interred after the Armistice at Strand Military Cemetery, Comines-Warneton, Hainaut, Belgium, grave X. H. 9.^[2]

...

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/164951
2. ↑ Bell-Irving River. https://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/3363.html Accessed 23 October 2021.

• "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J7JH-C8G : 20 September 2020), Duncan Peter Bell Irving, 1888.

• "Canada Census, 1901," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KHVJ-M88 : 23 February 2021), Duncan Bell-irving in household of Duncan Bell-irving, Burrard, British Columbia, Canada; citing p. 1, Library and Archives of Canada, Ottawa.

• "Recensement du Canada de 1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV95-MTV9 : 16 March 2018), Duncan P Irving in entry for Duncan B Irving, 1911; citing Census, Vancouver Sub-Districts 1-18, British Columbia, Canada, Library and Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario; FHL microfilm 2,417,661.

• 1914. Attestation papers. https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/first-world-war-1914-1918-cef/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=36726 Accessed 23 October 2021.

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12733443/duncan-peter-bell-irving : accessed 23 October 2021), memorial page for LT Duncan Peter Bell-Irving (3 Jan 1888–26 Feb 1915), Find A Grave: Memorial #12733443, citing Strand Military Cemetery, Comines-Warneton, Arrondissement de Mouscron, Hainaut, Belgium ; Maintained by Operation:PictureMe (contributor 47833248) .

See also:

• Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal by the Marquis of Ruvigny and Raineval. Published 1911 by Melville & Company, London. Mortimer-Percy volume, part one, P90.

• Books, The Irvines and Their Kin a History of the Irvine Family and their descendants. Author L. Boyd, Pub: Donnelley & Sons, Chicago, 1908. https://archive.org/.

• Canadian Virtual War Memorial. https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/164951 Accessed 23 October 2021.