A SERIES of events are set to be held in France to commemorate Yorkshire Regiment soldiers killed during the Battle of the Somme, including a North Yorkshire teacher and Newcastle United player who became a Victoria Cross recipient.

The main event will be a service at Bell’s Redoubt, of Contalmaison, tomorrow to commemorate the life of Second Lieutenant Donald Simpson Bell. The location is named after the junior officer, the only professional footballer to be awarded the medal for valour in the face of the enemy.

After the service and a laying of wreaths at a war memorial and a Vin d’Honneur with dinner, an England vs France football match, organised by the Friends of The Green Howards Museum, based in Richmond, will take place to commemorate 2Lt Bell’s achievement.

The English team will include soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment, who will play against local French side Albert, with soldiers from the 1st Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, the band of the Yorkshire Regiment, members of the Green Howards Association and members of 2Lt Bell’s family and local dignitaries looking on.

2Lt Donald Simpson Bell was born in 1890, and was educated at St Peter’s School, Harrogate, and Knaresborough Grammar before playing amateur football as a defender for Newcastle United and Bishop Auckland.

He went on to become assistant master at Starbeck Council School, Harrogate, and to supplement his teacher’s wage signed professionally with Park Avenue, in Bradford, in 1913, where he helped them secure promotion into the English top flight.

He became the first professional footballer to volunteer for the Army after war broke out, joining the Yorkshire Regiment, and was quickly being promoted to Second Lieutenant.

Due of his athleticism, the former Harrogate Grammar School pupil was selected for the dangerous role of leading bombing teams, and gained his Victoria Cross for a siege on German soldiers at Horseshoe Trench, near Contalmaison.

His Victoria Cross citation states while under heavy fire 2nd Lt. Bell crept up on a German trench and attacked the machine gun, shooting the firer with his revolver, before destroying the gun and personnel with bombs, saving many lives, before dying five days later in a similar act of bravery.”

His damaged helmet was retrieved from the battlefield and forms part of the Richmond Green Howards Museum ‘s collection. It is currently on display as part of its exhibition; Somme. The Other Side of No-Man’s Land.

2Lt Bell and his fellow soldiers are remembered on a memorial, dedicated in 2000 at Contalmaison in France.