Edward Bellew

Bellew was born in Bombay, India, on 28 October 1882. He began his education at Blundell's School, Devon, England, but left to attend Clifton College (1897–1900),[2] from where he was admitted to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He joined the Royal Irish Regiment in 1901. He emigrated to Canada in 1903 and worked as a construction engineer. In September 1914, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, he enlisted in the British Columbia Regiment.

Bellew was 32 years old, and a lieutenant in the 7th (1st British Columbia) Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

During the Second Battle of Ypres, a mass attack on the Canadian line developed on the morning of Saturday 24 April 1915 near Keerselaere, Belgium. The Canadians were suffering heavy casualties. The advance of the enemy was temporarily stayed by Lieutenant Bellew, the battalion machine-gun officer, who had two guns in action on high ground when the enemy's attack broke in full force. The reinforcements sent forward having been destroyed, and with the enemy less than 100 yards (91 m) away and no further assistance in sight, Bellew and a Sergeant Peerless decided to fight it out. The sergeant was killed and Bellew wounded. Nevertheless, he maintained his fire until his ammunition failed, when he seized a rifle, smashed his machine-gun and, fighting to the last, was taken prisoner.[3]

Bellew remained a prisoner of war (latterly in Holzminden prisoner-of-war camp) until 1919, and achieved the rank of Captain. He subsequently returned to Canada and became a dredging inspector. He died in 1961 and is buried at Hillside Cemetery, Kamloops, British Columbia.[4]

Bellew was the second cousin of Robert Bellew Adams, VC.

Bellew's Victoria Cross is believed to have been stolen from the Royal Canadian Military Institute, Toronto, between January 1975 and 22 July 1977. It has never been recovered.[5]

• Edward Donald Bellew's digitized service file
• Legion Magazine article on Edward Donald Bellew
• Edward Bellew at Find a Grave
• List of Canadian Victoria Cross recipients

• Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
• The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
• VCs of the First World War - The Western Front 1915 (Peter F. Batchelor & Christopher Matson, 1999)
• "On the Battlefields", From the archives of "Maclean's Magazine", Edited by Michael Benedict, Penguin Canada, 2002 ISBN 0-14-301341-6, page 96