Landed families of Britain and Ireland

On this site, which was short-listed for the SAHGB Colvin Prize in 2019, I present the results of my research into the landowning families of the British Isles and the country houses which they owned. Comments, especially in the form of corrections, additional information or new illustrations, are very welcome. Please use the Contact Form in the right hand side bar to contact me privately or the comments facility at the bottom of the page to make a public comment.

Monday, 27 March 2023

(540) Bell of Woolsington Hall

Bell of Woolsington

Matthew Bell I (1677-1748) was born in the Scottish borders but had moved to Newcastle-on-Tyne by 1694/5, when he married a young widow. His age at marriage makes it unlikely that he was formally apprenticed to a Newcastle tradesman, as one might expect, but he evidently became a freeman for he was engaged in several different trades in the city at different times, and became a member of the Company of Merchant Adventurers. His first wife was Frances Jamieson or Jennison and if the latter reading of her name is correct her previous husband may have been related to the owners of the Woolsington estate, which the family subsequently purchased. She died in 1700 and he married Ann Salkeld, the daughter of a prominent Newcastle merchant, by whom he had four sons and four daughters. His only surviving son, Matthew Bell II (1708-86) succeeded to and further developed his mercantile interests, becoming one of the 'hostmen' of Newcastle, who operated a cartel to control the export of coal from the River Tyne, and also a partner in the Newcastle Bank. Soon after his father's death he purchased the Woolsington Hall (or Wolsington Hall, as it was often known in the 18th century) estate just north of the city, and subsequently expanded the property though several purchases of coal-rich lands at Dinnington, East & West Brunton, Fawdon and Hazlerigg in the 1760s and later. His elder son, Matthew Bell III (1746-82) became a freeman of Newcastle but perhaps devoted most of his time to his role as the commanding officer of the Northumberland militia, and there seems to have been a gradual pulling away from the family's commercial roots towards more gentlemanly pursuits in the late 18th century. Matthew II was succeeded at Woolsington by his grandson, Matthew Bell IV (1768-1811), who had been sent to Oxford and was the first of the family to be High Sheriff of Northumberland; it was left to his younger brothers to continue the tradition of involvement in Newcastle business and civic affairs, with two of them serving as mayor of the city. Matthew IV was probably responsible for the landscaping of the park at Woolsington, and also made additions to the house. In 1792 he married Sarah Frances Brandling, the daughter of another leading Newcastle mercantile family, seated at Gosforth, and over the next half century there were frequent marriage connections between the two families: indeed, the two marriages of his second son, Commander Charles Bell, were both with ladies of the Brandling family.

The eldest son of Matthew IV was Matthew Bell V (1793-1871), who was educated at Eton and Oxford, and inherited Woolsington shortly before coming of age. He acquired an early reputation as a public speaker and interested himself in public affairs, becoming a JP and Deputy Lieutenant, and serving as High Sheriff in 1816-17. In 1826 he was elected to Parliament as one of the MPs for Northumberland, after a ruinously expensive bye-election, and then incurred further expense in defending his seat at the general election later that year. He claimed the two contests had cost him £43,000, but the true figure may have been even higher, and financing them placed a burden of debt on the Woolsington estate which was never wholly eliminated by his successors. Fortunately, after 1826 he was returned unopposed and he retained the seat until 1853. In the same year as he was elected to Parliament, he became the commanding officer of the Northumberland Yeomanry Cavalry, a post he retained until 1867, when he was 74 years of age! Matthew V and his wife were childless, so on his death Woolsington passed to his younger brother Henry Bell (1803-87), who after a brief career in the army had lived most of his life in relatively modest circumstances at Cheltenham (Glos). On inheriting the estate, he worked hard to pay off the debts his brother had incurred in the 1820s, but there was still a significant burden when he was succeeded by his nephew, Charles Loraine Bell (1836-1921), who had been a career civil servant at the Board of Trade until he retired in 1886. He inherited an estate with flourishing coal revenues, and continued his uncle's policy of paying off mortgages whenever possible, but increasing taxation and philanthropic interests meant he could never quite clear the debts. His only son, Walter Loraine Bell (1877-1965), must also have been a source of constant anxiety and expense, as he consistently lived beyond his means. His extreme enthusiasm for bloodsports led to his becoming MFH of several different hunts in England and Ireland at different times, and to several brushes with the law: rarely can the Oscar Wilde tag "the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable" have been more justly applied. In 1920 his father sold most of the Woolsington estate and after he inherited the following year he also sold the house. He may then have gone abroad for a time, but lived the later years of his life at Budleigh Salterton (Devon).

Woolsington Hall, Northumberland

The house was built, perhaps on the site of an earlier predecessor, in the late 17th century, and shows the influence of Robert Trollope, the leading master mason of Newcastle, some of whose distinctive Baroque devices are employed, although there is no evidence to suggest he worked here himself. The identity of the client is not certain: it has been suggested that it was built for the Errington family of Ponteland (Northbld), but it seems to have belonged to the Jenison family of Elswick (Northbld) by 1663, so they are the more likely builders.

Woolsington Hall: the house from the south-west in the early 20th century.

As first constructed the house was a square double-pile building with the main rooms facing south over the park. The south front (now rendered) has a three bay centre framed by giant angle pilasters with ball finials, and a parapet, making the house a rustic cousin of Capheaton Hall. The windows are mullioned and transomed and three lights wide, of stone on the upper floor, and timber below; and all of them have a kind of depressed shell motif instead of pediments. The windows and the central doorcase are framed by unusually thick and very distinctive bead mouldings. To either side of this 17th century block flanking stone wings with vases on their parapets were added in 1794 (left) and in the early 19th century (right). At the rear, there is a Venetian window lighting the staircase hall with broad (and thus probably early or mid 18th century) glazing bars, and two surviving cross-windows, one of which is now blind. To the east is an early 19th century wing, perhaps to be associated with the work which John Dobson is known to have carried out here in 1828, which was further extended in the late 19th century. There are also a collection of 18th and 19th century outbuildings, including an orangery with urn finials dated on its rainwater heads to 1797.

Woolsington Hall: the house from the north-west in 2010. Image: Peter Maddison. Some rights reserved.

All this is written in the present tense, but the house stood empty and decaying for more than two decades after it was acquired by Sir John Hall's property development company in 1994. Schemes for it becoming the centre of a training ground for Newcastle United FC and for its development for a hotel and housing fell through, and on 29 December 2015 arsonists started a series of fires throughout the building which completely gutted the historic core.

Woolsington Hall: the staircase destroyed in the fire of 2015.

The roof and mid 18th century staircase, the most significant internal features, were completely destroyed. Parts of the building that survived the fire subsequently collapsed or were dismantled for safety reasons, and emergency works saw scaffolding put in place to hold up the external walls. The opportunity was taken for detailed archaeological recording of the surviving parts of the structure and reclaimed materials, and plans for reinstatement of the roof and shell in preparation for a revived hotel scheme seem now to have been implemented. The suburbs of Newcastle are now lapping energetically at the southern edge of the park and have indeed swallowed one quarter of the park, while immediately to the north is Newcastle airport. In such a location the future of the house must inevitably be commercial or institutional.

Woolsington Hall: the park as depicted on the 6" Ordnance Survey map of 1858.

A map of 1727 shows a formal garden to the south and east of the house, with a central path leading to gates on the southern boundary of the garden, while a grove of trees lay to the west and the kitchen garden stood to the north-east. By 1769 the house was approached from the west, but there is no indication of the informal parkland that had been laid out by the early 19th century, with a long drive to the south ending at a set of four early 19th century gatepiers on the Newcastle-Ponteland road, where there was a lodge by 1858. A brick walled garden stands north-west of the house, while to the east is an orangery dated 1797, which presumably gives a fair indication of when the main park improvements were undertaken. A linear lake some half a mile south of the house, formed by damming the Ouse Burn, divided the southern third of the park from the rest. The identity of the landscape architect responsible for the scheme is unknown.

Descent: sold 1653 to Thomas Wharton and Gilbert Crouch, land speculators; sold by 1663 to Ralph Jenison of Elswick; to son?, Henry Jenison (b. 1676; fl. 1723); to son?, Robert Jenison (fl. 1732); sold 1741 to John Dagnia (d. 1743); to sons, of whom James Dagnia bought out his brothers and sold 1748 to Matthew Bell II (1708-86); to grandson, Matthew Bell IV (1768-1811); to son, Matthew Bell V (1793-1871); to brother, Henry Bell (1803-87); to nephew, Charles Loraine Bell (1836-1921); to son, Walter Loraine Bell (1877-1965) who sold in 1922 to John Angus; sold by 1930 to Sidney Harrison Smith (1882-1965); to son, William Scott Smith (d. 1988), who sold...; sold 1994 to Cameron Hall Developments.

Bell family of Woolsington Hall

Bell, Matthew I (1677-1748). Said to be the son of John Bell (1650-1716) of Mersington, Eccles (Berwicks), baptised 21 March 1677. At various times described as a butcher, woollen draper, coal owner, and merchant adventurer in Newcastle-on-Tyne. He married 1st, 9 March 1694/5 at St Nicholas, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Frances (d. 1700?), widow of [forename unknown] Jamieson or Jennison, and 2nd, 25 November 1701, Ann (1673-1732?), daughter of Thomas Salkeld (d. 1727) of Newcastle, and had issue:

(2.1) Thomas Bell (1702-40), born 12 July and baptised at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 17 September 1702; apprenticed to John Stephenson, boothman (corn merchant), 1726, and made a freeman of Newcastle, 1736; said to have died at Bristol (Glos), 1740;

(2.2) James Bell (1703-05), baptised at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 26 October 1703; died in infancy and was buried at St Nicholas, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 21 January 1704/5;
(2.3) Elizabeth Bell (1705-89), born 22 January and baptised at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 8 February 1704/5; married, 14 October 1722 at Boldon (Co. Durham), John Stephenson (1685-1761), alderman and sheriff of Newcastle, and had issue fifteen children; died 25 January and was buried at St Nicholas, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 29 January 1789, where she and her husband are commemorated by a monument;
(2.4) Margaret Bell (1706-07), born 22 July 1706 and baptised at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 13 February 1706/7; died in infancy and was buried at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 7 November 1707;
(2.5) Matthew Bell II (1708-86) (q.v.);
(2.6) George Bell (b. & d. 1709), born 28 April 1709; died in infancy and was buried at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 26 May 1709;
(2.7) Ann Bell (1712-40), born 25 September and baptised at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 16 October 1712; married, 23 November 1739 at Boldon, William Fenwick; died 23 February and was buried at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 26 February 1739/40;
(2.8) Barbera Bell (1714-41), born 24 April and baptised at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 11 May 1714; died unmarried and was buried at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 17 November 1741.

He lived in Newcastle on Tyne.

He died 3 June and was buried at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 6 June 1748. His first wife is said to have died in 1700. His second wife is said to have died 12 April 1732*.

* I cannot find a corresponding burial, but there is one for an Ann Bell buried at St Nicholas, Newcastle-on-Tyne on 28 January 1730/1, which may refer to her.

Bell, Matthew II (1708-86). Only surviving son of Matthew Bell I (1677-1748) of Newcastle-on-Tyne and Mersington (Berwicks), and his wife Ann, daughter of Thomas Salkeld, born 17 March 1707/8 and baptised at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 6 April 1708. Apprenticed to his grandfather, Thomas Salkeld (d. 1727), boothman (corn merchant), 1724 and later transferred to John Stephenson, 1728; made a freeman of Newcastle, 1733. One of the 'hostmen' of Newcastle, a cartel controlling the export of coal from the River Tyne, and a partner in the Newcastle Bank, and the Newcastle Whale Fishing Company; Alderman of Newcastle (Sheriff, 1736 and Mayor, 1757-58). He married, 19 February 1744 at Gosforth (Northbld), Jane (1721-92), daughter of Rev. Richard Ridley of Heaton (Northbld), and had issue:

(1) Matthew Bell III (1746-82) (q.v.);
(2) Margaret Bell (1749-1839), born 15 July and baptised at St John, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 14 August 1749; married, 24 July 1771 at Newburn (Northbld), John Ford (1749-1829) of London and Bath (Som.), lawyer, and had issue two sons and two daughters; died at Walcot, Bath aged 90, and was buried at Bathford (Som.), 19 November 1839;
(3) Ann Bell (1750-51), baptised at St John, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 25 June 1750; died in infancy and was buried at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 17 July 1751;
(4) Jane Bell (1753-1803), born 9 January and baptised at St John, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 19 February 1752/3; married, 14 October 1777 at Newcastle-on-Tyne, James Wilkinson (1755-1810), and had issue two daughters; buried at St John, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 26 November 1803;
(5) Richard Bell (1756-1824?), born 20 July and baptised at St John, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 16 August 1756; sheriff of Newcastle, 1782; possibly the man of this name buried at Ballast Hills Cemetery, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 17 December 1824.

He purchased the Woolsington Hall estate in 1748.

He died 2/3 September and was buried at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 6 September 1786. His widow was buried at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 19 June 1792.

Bell, Matthew III (1746-82). Elder son of Matthew Bell II (1708-86) and his wife Jane, daughter of Richard Ridley of Heaton (Northbld), born 30 April and baptised at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 29 May 1746. An officer in the Northumberland militia (Lt-Col. commanding). He became a freeman of Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1766. He married*, 23 July 1767 at Bishop Auckland (Co. Durham), Dulcibella (1747-78), second daughter of Sir Robert Eden, 3rd bt., of Windlestone (Co. Durham), and had issue:

(1) Matthew Bell IV (1768-1811) (q.v.);
(2) Maria Bell (1769-97), born 13 November and baptised 12 December 1769; died unmarried, 5 May and was buried at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 8 May 1797;
(3) Jane Bell (1771-93), born 4 January and baptised at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 5 February 1771; married, 7 January 1792 at Ford (Northbld), the Hon. William Hay (1772-1819), who in 1798 succeeded his brother as 17th Earl of Erroll (he m2, 3 August 1796, Alicia (d. 1812), third daughter of Samuel Eliot of Antigua, and had further issue three sons and five daughters, and m3, 14 October 1816 at Bishops Caundle (Dorset), Hon. Harriet (d. 1864), third daughter of Lt-Col. the Hon. Hugh Somerville, and had further issue one son and two daughters), and had issue one daughter; died following childbirth, 16 April, and was buried at Ford, 18 April 1793;
(4) Col. Robert Bell (1772-1851), born 16 February and baptised at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 17 March 1772; became a freeman of Newcastle on Tyne, 1819; mayor Newcastle, 1822-23 and 1828-29; lived at Longbenton and later at Fenham Hall, Newcastle (Northbld); married 1st, 22 June 1807 at Cantley (Yorks WR), Anna Mildreda (1781-1816), daughter of Childers Walbank Childers of Cantley Lodge, and had issue one daughter; married 2nd, 23 June 1832 at Chester-le-Street (Co. Durham), Emma Donna (1786-1859), daughter of Isaac Cookson of Whitehill; died 10 January 1851;
(5) Dulcibella Bell (1773-1856), born 12 May and baptised at St Nicholas, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 10 June 1773; married, 2 January 1800 at in the chapel of Lambeth Palace (Surrey), Rev. Robert Moore (1777-1865), a canon of Canterbury Cathedral who also held a sinecure position in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury worth more than £10,000 a year, third son of Most Rev. John Moore (1730-1805), Archbishop of Canterbury, 1783-1805, and had issue one son and three daughters; died 4 August 1856;
(6) Henry Bell (1774-1836), born 24 July and baptised at St Nicholas, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 22 August 1774; an officer in the Wolsington Loyal Yeomanry Cavalry (Lt., 1798); became a freeman of Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1806; sheriff of Newcastle, 1832-33 and mayor of Newcastle, 1833-34; married, 2 June 1807 at St Giles, Northampton (Northants), Susanna Jane (1788-1871), daughter of Rowland Mainwaring of Northampton, and had issue four sons and five daughters; died 8 July and was buried at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 13 July 1836.

He seems to have lived in Newcastle-on-Tyne.

He died in the lifetime of his father, 28 December 1782, and was buried at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 2 January 1783. His first wife died 24 September and was buried 28 September 1778.

* Some sources say he married 2nd, 26 August 1779 at Beverley Minster (Yorks ER), Elizabeth Grand, but this seems to involve another person of the same name.

Bell, Matthew IV (1768-1811). Eldest son of Col. Matthew Bell III (1746-82) and his wife Dulcibella, second daughter of Sir Robert Eden, 3rd bt., born 11 July and baptised at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 6 August 1768. Educated at Oriel College, Oxford (matriculated 1785). High Sheriff of Northumberland, 1797-98; an officer in the Wolsington Loyal Yeomanry Cavalry (Capt. commanding, 1798). He married, 9 June 1792 at Middleton Lodge, Rothwell (Yorks WR), by special licence, Sarah Frances (1770-1866), daughter of Charles Brandling of Gosforth House (Northbld), and had issue:

(1) Matthew Bell V (1793-1871) (q.v.);
(2) Elizabeth Jane Bell (1794-1868), born 19 November 1794 and baptised at Ponteland, 12 January 1795; lived at Cheltenham (Glos) and later at Tunbridge Wells (Kent); died unmarried, 14 February 1868; will proved 2 July 1869 (effects under £6,000);
(3) Dulicibella Bell (1796-1801), born 4 June and baptised at Ponteland, 4 July 1796; died young and was buried at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 19 September 1801;
(4) Sarah Frances Bell (1798-1857), born 16 January and baptised at Ponteland, 10 February 1798; married, 25 May 1826 at British Chaplaincy, Geneva (Switzerland), Sir John James Walsham (1805-74), 1st bt., of Knill Court (Herefs), poor law inspector, and had issue four sons and two daughters; died at Devon Cottage, Blackheath (Kent), 19 August 1857;
(5) Charles Bell (1799-1844), born 26 January and baptised at Ponteland, 24 February 1799; an officer in the Royal Navy (midshipman, 1813; Lt., 1821; Cmdr., 1827); married 1st, 11 December 1828 at Gosforth (Northbld), Mary (1802-31), youngest daughter of Rev. Ralph Henry Brandling, rector of Rothwell (Yorks WR); and 2nd, 18 April 1837 at Longbenton (Northbld), Rachel Ann (1819-86), (who m2, 9 August 1855 at Newcastle-on-Tyne, Sir Peter Fairbairn (1799-1861), kt., engineer, inventor, and mayor of Leeds, 1857-59) fourth daughter of Robert William Brandling of Low Gosforth (Northbld), but died without issue when he drowned in the Bay of Islands (New Zealand), 8 August 1844; buried at Christ Church (New Zealand);
(6) Robert John Bell (1800-26), born 7 June 1800 and baptised at Ponteland, 18 April 1801; educated at Oriel College, Oxford (matriculated 1818; BA 1823; MA 1825); died at Acton Priory (Middx), 9 September and was buried at Hambleden (Bucks), 16 September 1826;
(7) Henry Bell (1803-87) (q.v.);
(8) Rev. John Bell (1805-69) (q.v.);
(9) Capt. William Bell (1806-57), born 23 October and baptised at Ponteland, 5 November 1806; an officer in the 43rd regiment (Ensign, 1824; Lt., 1828; Capt., 1831) and later barrack master at Ipswich (Suffk); married, 10 March 1842 at Simonburn (Northbld), Jane (1814-84), third daughter of John Ridley of Park End, Simonburn (Northbld), and had issue one son and one daughter; died at Ipswich, 14 August 1857;
(10) Dulcibella Bell (1807-1901), born 27 December 1807 and baptised at Ponteland, 11 January 1808; companion to her widowed mother; lived latterly at Newcastle-on-Tyne; died unmarried, 6 June 1901; will proved 28 August 1901 (estate £6,689).

He inherited the Woolsington Hall estate from his grandfather in 1786.

He died in London, 26 April, and was buried at All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 6 May 1811; his will was proved 22 October 1811 (effects under £50,000). His widow died aged 96 at Cheltenham (Glos), 14 August 1866.

Matthew Bell (1793-1871) .
Image: National Portrait Gallery.
Bell, Matthew V (1793-1871). Eldest son of Matthew Bell IV (1768-1811) and his wife Sarah Frances, daughter of Charles Brandling, born 18 April and baptised at Ponteland (Northbld), 21 May 1793. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1811). An officer in the Northumberland Yeomanry Cavalry (Capt., 1819; Lt-Col. commanding, 1826-67), who commanded the force during the Tyne pitmen's strike of 1830-32; Conservative MP for Northumberland, 1826-31 and for Northumberland South, 1832-53; JP and DL for Northumberland; High Sheriff of Northumberland, 1816-17. As a young man he acquired a reputation as a popular public speaker and man of business, but his election to parliament at a bye-election in 1826 and then at a general election later that year was bitterly fought by both the Whigs and by Tories of different views, and is said to have cost him £43,000, a sum which burdened the estate for the rest of his life and beyond. He married, 10 October 1816 at St George, Hanover Sq,, Westminster (Middx), Elizabeth Anne (1794-1873), elder daughter and heiress of Henry Utrick Reay (1750-1828) of Killingworth House (Northbld) and Hunwick (Co. Durham), but had no issue.

He inherited the Woolsington Hall estate from his father in 1811 and was one of the 'Great Northern coal owners'. He built Fawdon House as a dower house for his mother's use. At his death the estate was placed in trust for his next surviving brother, Henry.

He died 28 October 1871; his will was proved 22 December 1871 (effects under £30,000). His widow died 30 December 1873; her will was proved 6 March 1874 (effects under £20,000).

Bell, Henry (1803-87). Fourth son of Matthew Bell IV (1768-1811) and his wife Sarah Frances, daughter of Charles Brandling, born 1 April and baptised at Ponteland (Northbld), 15 April 1803. An officer in the army (Ensign, 1820; Lt., 1825; Capt., 1826; retired on half-pay). After inheriting the Woolsington estate, he worked to reduce the burden of debt on the property. He married, 2 August 1831 at Cheltenham (Glos), Helen (1811-78), only daughter and heiress of Sir William Bagenal Burdett (1770-1840), 3rd bt., but had no issue.

After leaving the army, he lived at Chalfont Lodge, Leckhampton (Glos) until he inherited the Woolsington Hall estate from his elder brother in 1871. At his death it passed to his nephew, Claude Loraine Bell (1836-1921).

He died 17 November 1887 and was buried at Dinnington (Northbld), where he is commemorated by two monuments; his will was proved 27 March 1888 (effects £38,479). His wife died 5 July 1878 and was also buried at Dinnington, where she is commemorated by a monument; administration of her goods was granted 16 September 1878 (effects under £5,000).

Rev. John Bell (1805-69)
Bell, Rev. John (1805-69). Fifth son of Matthew Bell IV (1768-1811) and his wife Sarah Frances, daughter of Charles Brandling, born 28 June and baptised at Ponteland, 14 July 1805. Educated at University College, Oxford (matriculated 1822; BA 1827; MA 1832). Ordained deacon, 1829 and priest, 1830. Vicar of Rothwell (Yorks WR), 1829-69; chaplain to the Earl of Mexborough; rural dean of Wakefield by 1858; proctor in convocation for the archdeaconry of Craven; and canon of Ripon Cathedral, 1869. He held moderate High Church views, and was much respected by his brother clergy in the diocese of York. He married, 20 December 1828 at St John, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Isabella Elizabeth (1805-81), only daughter of Sir Charles Loraine (1779-1833), 5th bt., of Kirkharle (Northbld), and had issue:
(1) Isabella Elizabeth Bell (1829-1910), born 23 October 1829 and baptised at Gosforth (Northbld), 2 April 1830; after her mother died, lived at the Palazzo Consiglio, via Amadeo, Naples (Italy) for much of her life; died unmarried, 1 February 1910; will proved 22 June 1910 (effects in England, £1,890);
(2) Matthew Bell (1831-59), born 11 February and baptised at Rothwell, 4 April 1831; educated at Eton; an officer in the army (Ensign, 1849; Lt., 1853); died unmarried of smallpox at Peshawar, Bengal (India), 11 January 1859, and was buried there the following day;
(3) John Bell (1832-77?), born 24 June and baptised at Rothwell, 11 July 1832; said to have died at Beaufort, Victoria (Australia), 1877;
(4) Robert John Bell (1833-58), born 16 September and baptised at Rothwell, 18 October 1833; an officer in 37th regiment (Ensign, 1854; Lt.,1855); died at sea on his way home from Calcutta, 12 May 1858;
(5) Frances Sarah Bell (1835-1905), born 13 April and baptised at Rothwell, 22 May 1835; married, 23 April 1863 at Rothwell, Rev. Shepley Watson Hemingway (later Watson) (1827-99), rector of Barton (Cumbld), 1875-78 and Bootle (Cumbld), 1878-99, and had issue four sons and one daughter; died at Dawlish (Devon), 23 April 1905; administration of goods granted 13 July 1905 (estate £810);
(6) Charles Loraine Bell (1836-1921) (q.v.);
(7) Rev. Henry Bell (1838-1919), born 4 January and baptised at Rothwell, 12 March 1838; educated at Marlborough College and Durham University (L.Th 1861); ordained deacon, 1862 and priest, 1864; assistant master, Marlborough College, 1861-73; chaplain to Lord Muncaster and vicar of Muncaster (Cumbld), 1873-1907; rural dean of Gosforth, 1878-1907; hon. canon of Carlisle Cathedral, 1883-1907; lived latterly at St Jean-de-Luz (France); married, 17 April 1873 at Kilmore (Co. Kerry), Katherine (c.1846-1927), daughter of Sir Peter George Fitzgerald (1808-80), 1st bt. and 19th Knight of Kerry, and had issue three sons and three daughters; died in France, 11 June 1919; will proved 18 September 1919 (estate £7,180);
(8) William Bell (1839-1916), born 24 March and baptised at Rothwell, 22 April 1839; educated at Rossall Hall (Lancs); served in the Royal Navy but emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio (USA) in 1873, and was naturalised as an American citizen, 1889; married, 27 July 1873 at Braddan (Isle of Man), Martha (1854-1939), daughter of Joseph Hill, and had issue one son and two daughters; died at Cleveland, 20 March 1916;
(9) Emma Rachel Bell (1840-1909), born 7 December 1840 and baptised at Rothwell, 19 January 1841; married, 10 June 1869 at Rothwell, Capt. Albert Frank Adams (1843-1913), second son of Francis Adams (1812-85) of Clifton (Glos), and had issue seven sons and one daughter; died 20 August and was buried at Dawlish (Devon), 24 August 1909;
(10) Frank Bell (1842-1902?), born 21 May and baptised at Longhoughton (Northbld), 23 September 1842; served in Royal Navy and afterwards emigrated to Torna, New South Wales (Australia); said to have died in 1902;
(11) Helen Alice Bell (1843-1903), born 3 December 1843 and baptised at Rothwell, 19 February 1844; lived at Carlisle (Cumbld); died unmarried at Woolsington Hall, 5 April 1903; will proved 2 June 1903 (estate £4,414);
(12) Edward Savile Bell (1845-77), born 30 March and baptised at Rothwell, 19 May 1845; educated at Marlborough College; schoolmaster; emigrated to Beechworth, Victoria (Australia); married, 1873, Jessie Hamilton, and had issue one son; died of heatstroke at sea, 21 June/21 July 1877; will proved 15 October 1877;
(13) Arthur George Bell (1846-89), born 20 August and baptised at Rothwell, 16 September 1846; corresponding clerk; lived at Shrewsbury and later at Prees (Shrops.); married, 13 January 1876 at St Mary, Shrewsbury, Mary (1836-1908), daughter of Joseph Harper of Wolverley, Wem (Shrops.), farmer, and widow of John Cheshire, grocer, and had issue two daughters; died 29 January and was buried at Prees, 1 February 1889; administration of goods granted to his widow, 16 February 1889 (effects £231);
(14) Gertrude Mary Bell (1848-78), born 24 June and baptised at Rothwell, 26 August 1848; married, 1 August 1872 at Rothwell, Richard Harrison (1846-1906) of Grimston Lodge, Tadcaster (Yorks WR), son of Richard Harrison, and had issue two sons and four daughters; died 25 October and was buried at Rothwell, 29 October 1878.

He lived at Oulton House and later at Hemingway House, Oulton Green (Yorks WR).

He died 14 October and was buried at Rothwell, 18 October 1869; administration of his goods was granted 14 December 1869 (effects under £14,000). His widow died at Neville Hall, Middleham (Yorks NR), 15 March 1881; her will was proved 11 April 1881 (effects under £300).

Charles Loraine Bell (1836-1921)
Bell, Charles Loraine (1836-1921). Fourth son of Rev. John Bell (1805-69), vicar of Rothwell (Yorks), and his wife Isabella Elizabeth, only daughter of Sir Charles Loraine, 5th bt. of Kirkharle (Northbld), born 3 July and baptised at Rothwell (Yorks WR), 23 September 1836. Educated at Marlborough College. Joined the Civil Service as a clerk in the Board of Trade and rose to become Principal Clerk of the Railway Department, retiring in 1886. After inheriting the Woolsington estate, he continued the policy of his uncle in paying off the mortgages, and was helped by flourishing coal revenues, but higher taxation in his later years obliged him to sell much of the land. JP and DL for Northumberland; High Sheriff of Northumberland, 1895-96. He was a director of the Newcastle Daily Journal, a freeman of Newcastle, a member of the Court of Merchant Adventurers and of the Newcastle Farmers' Club. He took a keen interest in the schools around his estate and in his garden and the wildlife of its park. He married, 13 April 1871 at Appin (Argylls.), his second cousin, Anna Roberta (1851-1933), youngest daughter of Charles Bernard of Innistore House, Appin, and had issue:

(1) Margaret Ellen Bell (1873-1953), born 15 March and baptised at Great Stanmore (Middx), 23 April 1873; married, 12 June 1901 at Dinnington (Northbld), her cousin, Claude Henry Watson (1869-1945), land agent, third son of Rev. Shepley Watson Hemingway (later Watson) of Bootle (Cumbld), and had issue one son and two daughters; died 24 January 1953 and was buried at Dinnington, where she and her husband are commemorated by a monument; will proved 17 April 1953 (estate £11,132);
(2) Isabel Gertrude Bell (1875-1954), born 13 March and baptised at Great Stanmore, 20 March 1875; married, 14 July 1898 at Ponteland (Northbld), Lt-Col. Eustace Guinness RA (1860-1901) of Burton Hall, Stillorgan (Co. Dublin), son of Henry Guinness (1829-93), and had issue two sons; died in London, 19 November and was buried at Haslemere (Surrey), 23 November 1954; will proved 18 April 1955 (estate £4,047);
(3) Walter Loraine Bell (1877-1965) (q.v.);
(4) Dulcibella Mildreda Bell (1887-1931), born 6 February and baptised at St Mary, Watford (Herts), 3 April 1887; girl guides commissioner for Bedfordshire; a lifelong asthmatic; married, 1 June 1920 at All Saints, Gosforth (Northbld), Lt-Col. Norman Percy Clarke (1878-1945) of Blunham Grange (Beds.); died 19 June 1931 and was buried at Tempsford (Beds), 23 June 1931.

He inherited the Woolsington Hall estate from his uncle in 1887, but sold much of the land in 1920.

He died 13 November 1921 and was buried at Dinnington (Northbld); will proved 15 May 1922 (estate £21,787). His widow died 21 May 1933.

Bell, Walter Loraine (1877-1965). Only son of Charles Loraine Bell (1836-1921) and his wife Anna Roberta, youngest daughter of Charles Bernard, born 30 May and baptised at Great Stanmore (Middx), 12 July 1877. Master of East Cheriton Otter Hounds, 1905 and later of East Galway Fox Hounds and joint Master of the Duhallow Hunt. He troubled the courts on several occasions, being fined for trespass in pursuit of game in 1901; jailed (though reduced to a fine on appeal) for cruelty to cats in 1905; and appearing as co-respondent in his second wife's divorce from her first husband in 1915. He told his first wife he was going abroad in 1913 and may have done so, but he served in the First World War as a private in the Royal Fusiliers, 1915-16 (invalided). He married 1st, 30 November 1899 at St George's Chapel, Albemarle St., Westminster (Middx) (but abandoned her in 1913 and was divorced in 1916), Winifred Margaret (1859-1928), daughter of Henry William Watson of Burnopfield (Co. Durham), colliery owner, and widow of John Loxley Firth (c.1858-97)* of Hope (Derbys), and 2nd, c.1916?**, Susan Frederica Lilian May (b. 1875; fl. 1966), daughter of John Lloyd of Gloster (Co. Offaly) and formerly wife of Brig-Gen. Edwin Charles Barnes Cotgrave, but had no issue.

He evidently rented various properties in England and Ireland (including Duntisbourne House (Glos) in 1901 and Farmleigh, Abbeyleix (Co. Leix) in 1913) before he inherited the Woolsington Hall estate from his father in 1921; he sold Woolsington in 1922 except for one farm. He lived latterly at Budleigh Salterton (Devon).

He died 18 December 1965; his will was proved 3 May 1966 (estate £16,646). His first wife married 3rd, 6 June 1917, Chief Inspector Kerry Leyne Supple (1862-1921) of the Royal Irish Constabulary; she lived latterly at Prescott House (Glos.) and died 29 September 1928; her will was proved 24 April 1929 (estate £2,141). His second wife's date of death is unknown.

* She had children by her first marriage, including a daughter (Christina Winifred Firth), who was the mother of the painter Francis Bacon (1909-92), who lived with his grandmother and her third husband at Farmleigh 1918-21.

** I have been unable to trace his second marriage, which probably took place fairly soon after his divorce: it presumably took place abroad. He may have lived abroad for an extended period as the seems to be no trace of him on the 1921 census or 1939 register.

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1952, p. 151; L. Loraine, Pedigree and memoirs of the family of Loraine of Kirkharle, 1902; M.H. Dodds, A history of Northumberland, vol. 13, pp. 207-10; Sir N. Pevsner, I. Richmond et al., The buildings of England: Northumberland, 1992, pp. 635-36; Tyne & Wear CC, A Guide to the Historic Parks and Gardens of Tyne and Wear, 1995, pp. 21-22;

http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/bell-matthew-1793-1871;

Location of archives

Bell family of Woolsington: deeds, estate papers, plans and colliery records, 17th-19th cents. [Northumberland Archives, 01219]

Coat of arms

Sable, a fesse erminois, in chief an escallop between two bells, and in base a bell between two escallops, all argent.

Can you help?

Can anyone provide information about the ownership of Woolsington Hall between 1965 and 1994?
Can anyone provide further information about Walter Loraine Bell after the sale of Woolsington Hall, or the date of death of his second wife?
Can anyone provide portraits of the people whose names appear in bold above, for whom no image is currently shown?
If anyone can offer further information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 27 March 2023.

Sunday, 19 March 2023

(539) Bell of Thirsk Hall

Bell of Thirsk

This family were established in and around Thirsk as yeomen and merchants from the 16th century, but their rise into the landed gentry really begins in the early 18th century. Robert Bell (1626-1711), with whom the genealogy below starts, was a mercer in Thirsk. He lived in a mansion house in Kirkgate in the town, and evidently invested his profits in systematically buying property in and around the town. By the time of his death, he owned 22 properties in the town itself, as well as a house at Sowerby (to which his widow retired) and lands in several surrounding parishes. His property in Thirsk town gave him control of almost half the franchise in the parliamentary borough, with the majority of the remainder being controlled by the Franklands of Thirkleby. Both families held Whiggish views and in late 17th and early 18th century Sir Thomas Frankland occupied one seat himself, and agreed with Robert Bell to support Sir Godfrey Copley for the other. However, Copley died in 1709, and Robert's eldest son and eventual heir, Ralph Bell (1657-1735) came to an arrangement with Frankland that he would support the latter's nephew, Leonard Smelt, at the ensuing bye-election, on the condition that Frankland would accept whoever Ralph Bell put forward for the second seat at the next general election. In the event, that general election happened in 1710, and Ralph Bell decided to stand himself. He was re-elected in 1715, but does not seem to have been a very active Parliamentarian, and in 1717 he agreed to resign his seat in return for appointment as one of the Customers of the port of Hull (a place which he retained until his death). Such senior positions in the customs were lucrative, and Ralph combined it with appointment as steward to the Earl of Derby's manor of Thirsk. His income from the two roles, combined with the profit of the family mercery and landholdings, enabled him to buy the manor of Thirsk from Lord Derby in 1723, and to build a new five bay, two storey house next to the church at the end of Kirkgate during the 1720s. It seems likely that this house (which forms the core of the present Thirsk Hall) stood on the same site as the previous manor house, of which nothing is known.

Ralph Bell and his wife Rachel were childless, and when he died in 1735 he bequeathed Thirsk Hall and his other property to his sister's second surviving son, Ralph Consett (1690-1770), on condition that he took the name Bell in lieu of Consett. It was a decision which he evidently expected to cause trouble with his younger brother, John Bell (1665-1753), who was left a modest annuity of £50 a year subject to the condition that he accepted the terms of the will. Ralph Consett, whose elder brother Peter (1685-1730) inherited their father's estate at Yarm (Yorks NR) and Eaglescliffe (Co. Durham), duly took the name Bell for himself and his children, and served as a justice of the peace and as High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1743. He seems to have handed over the house at Thirsk to his son, Ralph Bell (1720-1801) on the latter's marriage in 1761, and moved to Brawith Hall, which belonged to another branch of the Consett family. Ralph's marriage to the heiress, Ann Conyers of Malton (Yorks NR), brought him the means to substantially enlarge Thirsk Hall to the designs of the fashionable architect, John Carr, creating the house we see today. They had two sons who survived to adulthood, John Bell (1764-1822) and Robert Bell (1768-1831). John inherited the Thirsk estate, while Robert inherited in 1803 the estate of the Livesey family in Lancashire. There has been much confusion over the descent of the Livesey property, but Ralph Consett (later Bell)'s daughter Rachel (1733-1810) married Ralph Livesey (c.1728-1803) in 1754, and since they had no children the property seems to have passed to Robert Bell (who took the additional name Livesey) on Ralph Livesey's death. Just three years later, however, Robert sold the entire property, and in 1810 he bought Kildale Manor in the Yorkshire Moors, which descended to his daughter, who carried it to the Turton family.

John Bell (1764-1822) of Thirsk and his wife had two surviving daughters but only one surviving son, John Bell (1809-51), who was educated at Oxford, became a JP and deputy lieutenant, and in 1841 was elected as MP for Thirsk, the first of his family to serve in parliament since the early 18th century. Unfortunately, a promising career was cut short in 1849 when he became mentally ill and was declared a lunatic, although since there was then no mechanism to remove a sitting member under these circumstances he remained nominally the MP for Thirsk until his death. He was unmarried and without issue, so the Thirsk estate again passed through the female line to his nephew, Frederic Macbean (1830-75), who took the name Bell. It was he who, in 1855, made land available for the laying out of the first Thirsk racecourse, and the family have been closely associated with horse-racing in the town ever since. Frederic was also unmarried, and so on his death it passed to his mother and her sister and brother-in-law, and then to his nephew, Reginald Smith (1848-1921), who for a third time kept it in the family by taking the name Bell. Reginald was the owner in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when first the Agricultural Depression, and then the legislative and taxation reforms of successive Liberal governments greatly weakened the position of landowners. A potent symbol of the financial hardship Reginald experienced was the sale in 1919 of the two Gainsborough portraits of Ralph Bell (1720-1801) and his wife Ann Conyers (1730-1813), although happily the family were able to buy back the latter in the later 20th century.

In 1921 the estate was inherited by John Bell (1879-1948), who pursued a career as a land agent while waiting to succeed, which no doubt gave him the skills to manage his own property effectively when the time came. His younger son and heir, Maj. Peter Bell (1912-91), was High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1983-84 and Chairman of Thirsk Racecourse, and was succeeded by his son John (b. 1951), who opened an art gallery in Thirsk in the 1980s. He handed over the estate to his eldest daughter Daisy (b. 1984) and her husband in 2019, and both of them are also professionally engaged in the art world. They have brought a new entrepreneurship to the management of the estate, and with Daisy's two sisters now manage a range of enterprises which are intended to support the future of the estate for the long term, and to provide a cultural and economic stimulus to the life of the town.

Thirsk Hall, Yorkshire (NR)

The house stands close to the church just as it might in a village, but here, in the market town of Thirsk, it is separated from Kirkgate, one of the main streets, only by a low hedge and a narrow gravel sweep. The rear of the house, however, tells quite a different story, overlooking some 20 acres of gardens as though its setting was completely rural; a similar arrangement to that at Leyburn Hall, not far away.

Thirsk Hall: entrance front. The original house is represented by the lower two storeys of the central five bays. Image: Alan Marsh.

The present house started out as a five-bay, two-storey brick house, built for Ralph Bell (1657- 1735), whose family had lived in the town since the 16th century. Ralph was steward of the Earl of Derby's manor of Thirsk from 1717 and bought the manor from the Earl in 1723. Work probably began on the house immediately after the purchase was concluded and is likely to have been completed by about 1730. Ralph's great-nephew, Ralph Bell (1720-1801), was apparently resident in the house by 1761, although he did not become the owner until his father died in 1770. Shortly afterwards, he commissioned John Carr of York to add an extra storey to the existing house, and to build plain three-bay two-storey wings to either side. The work was carried out in 1771-73, with the rainwater heads being dated 1771. There are stone quoins and string courses but no other decorative enrichments except a small pediment over the doorway, which could post-date Carr's work. A single-storey cast iron veranda was added in the late 19th century to the central five bays of the garden front.

Thirsk Hall: garden front in c.1903.

Inside, the entrance hall and the panelled library (originally the parlour) to its right, with Kentian greek key decoration of the ceiling beams and the overmantel, date from c.1730-40, although the Ionic screen in the entrance hall was created in the 1960s with reused columns. The main staircase is also the result of alterations. It was created originally by Carr and rises to the top of the house, but the lower part, with a most unusual balustrade, with three thick but independent strands of wood twisted into a single baluster on each step, was altered in about 1870; it is said to have been imported from the Manor House in Newcastle-on-Tyne, but could well be new work of that date.

Thirsk Hall: Carr's dining room.
Image: Country Life.

Carr's north wing contains the Great Dining Room, with very elegant and restrained decoration, and the bills for the plasterer (James Henderson) and woodcarver survive. The present drawing room owes its current form to the late 19th century.

Alongside the enlargement of the house, Ralph and Ann Bell improved the grounds of their house, enclosing it with walls, building a greenhouse, and constructing a haha in 1772. In the 19th century, the base of the former Thirsk market cross and what is believed be a Norman font from the demolished Hood church were moved to the gardens as ornaments. And more recently, the present owners have established Thirsk Hall Sculpture Garden in the grounds, among a variety of commercial enterprises designed to support the local economy and ensure the future of the house.

Descent: built c.1723-30 for Ralph Bell (1657-1735); to nephew, Ralph Consett (later Bell) (1690-1770); to son, Ralph Bell (1720-1801); to son, John Bell (1764-1822); to son, John Bell (1809-51); to nephew, Frederick Macbean (later Bell) (1830-75); to mother, Frances Macbean (1801-76) and aunt, Jane (1808-79), wife of Maj. Charles Oakley Sanders (1800-83) and then to his nephew, Reginald Smith (later Bell) (1848-1921); to son, John Bell (1879-1948); to son, Maj. Peter Bell (1912-91); to son, John Bell (b. 1951), who handed the estate over in 2019 to his daughter Daisy (b. 1984), wife of Willoughby Gerrish (b. 1985).

Bell family of Thirsk Hall

Bell, Robert (1626-1711). Son of Ralph Bell, baptised at Thirsk, 21 January 1626/7*. Mercer in Thirsk. He fell out with the vicar of Thirsk, and established a dissenting congregation there. He married, c.1650, Elizabeth [surname unknown] (d. 1715), and had issue:

(1) Elizabeth Bell (1653-1741?) (q.v.);

(2) Ralph Bell (1657-1735) (q.v.);
(3) Deborah Bell; married 21 September 1681 at Thirsk, Thomas Denison, and had issue;
(4) A daughter; married [forename unknown] Gaskell and had issue;
(5) Thomas Bell (1662-66), baptised at Thirsk, 23 December 1662; died young and was buried at Thirsk, 1 June 1666;
(6) John Bell (1665-1753), baptised at Thirsk, 23 February 1664/5; merchant at Thirsk; buried at Thirsk, 22 July 1753;
(7) Augustine Bell (1667-70), baptised at Thirsk, 29 June 1667; died young and was buried at Thirsk, 30 August 1670.

He lived in a mansion house in Kirkgate, Thirsk, and also had a house at Sowerby near Thirsk (Yorks NR), where his widow retired. He also owned 22 houses in the town of Thirsk and land in several adjoining parishes.

He was buried at Thirsk, 23 August 1711; his will was proved in the PCY, 15 September 1711. His widow was buried at Thirsk, 20 May 1715; her will was proved in the PCY, 22 May 1715.

* Not in 1615, as has been stated in most previous accounts of the family.

Bell, Ralph (1657-1735). Elder son of Robert Bell (1626-1711) and his wife Elizabeth, baptised at Thirsk, 12 November 1657. Mercer in Thirsk; JP for Yorkshire (NR); Whig MP for Thirsk, 1710-17. Customer of Hull, 1717-33; Steward of the Earl of Derby at Thirsk, 1717-23. He married, 3 March 1697 in York Minster, Rachel (d. 1711?), daughter of Richard Windlow of Yarm (Yorks NR), but had no issue*.

He purchased the manor of Thirsk in 1723 and built Thirsk Hall in c.1723-30. He sold the manorial rights in 1726.

He died 3 November 1735 and was buried at Thirsk**; his will was proved in the Prerogative Court of York, December 1735. His wife was probably the woman of this name buried at Thirsk, 5 May 1711, and whose will was proved in the PCY, 8 February 1714/15.

* Grainge's Vale of Mowbray, 1859 (followed by the History of Parliament) says that he had two sons and two daughters, but he has muddled the generations, and I can find no evidence that there were any children.

** Or so it is reasonable to suppose, since his will directed that he be buried there. He is, however, entered in the parish registers of both Thirsk and Sowerby.

Bell, Elizabeth (1653-1741?). Eldest daughter of Robert Bell (1626-1711) and his wife Elizabeth, baptised at Thirsk, 2 January 1653/4. She married, 24 January 1683 at Thirsk, Peter Consett (1656-1733) of Yarm (Yorks NR), and had issue:

(1) Peter Consett (1685-1750), baptised at Yarm, 21 June 1685; inherited the Yarm estate from his father; married, 31 December 1713 at Stockton-on-Tees (Co. Durham), Jane (1690-1747), daughter of Thomas Swainston of Stockton-on-Tees, and had issue at least one son; buried at Stockton-on-Tees, 16 November 1750;
(2) Jane Consett (1686-1723?), baptised at Acklam (Yorks NR), 25 March 1686; possibly the woman of this name who died unmarried and was buried at Stockton-on-Tees, 21 October 1723;
(3) Robert Consett (1688-90), baptised at Yarm, 18 December 1688; died in infancy and was buried at Yarm, 8 January 1689/90;
(4) Ralph Consett (later Bell) (1690-1770) (q.v.);
(5) Robert Consett (b. & d. 1693), baptised at Yarm, 21 August 1693; died in infancy and was buried at Yarm, 29 August 1693;
(6) William Consett (1695-1728?), baptised at Yarm, 12 March 1694/5; probably the man of this name buried at Yarm, 1 March 1727/8.

She and her husband inherited lands at Yarm (Yorks NR) and Eaglescliffe (Co. Durham)

She was probably the woman of this name buried at Yarm, 26 July 1741. Her husband was buried at Yarm, 9 February 1732/3.

Consett (later Bell), Ralph (1690-1770). Third, but second surviving son of Peter Consett (1656-1733) of Yarm (Yorks NR) and his wife Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Robert Bell (1626-1711) of Sowerby (Yorks NR), baptised at Yarm, 10 November 1690. Mercer in Thirsk, where he was taking apprentices in the later 1710s and early 1720s; he was later also described as a grocer. He inherited the Thirsk Hall estate from his uncle in 1735 and took the name Bell in lieu of Consett in the same year. JP for Yorkshire (NR) from 1736 and High Sheriff of Yorkshire, 1743. He married, 12 February 1717 at St Michael Spurriergate, York, Mary Inchbord?* (d. 1754), and had issue:

(1) Ralph Consett (later Bell) (1720-1801) (q.v.);
(2) Elizabeth Consett (1722-25), baptised at Thirsk, 22 June 1722; died young and was buried at Thirsk, 24 August 1725;
(3) Peter Consett (later Bell) (1726-93), baptised at Thirsk, 20 January 1726/7; married, 18 August 1758 at Bingley (Yorks WR), Mary, daughter of Richardson Ferrand of Harden (Yorks) and widow of Henry Currer of Kildwick (Yorks), but had no issue; died 15 January and was buried at Thirsk, 20 January 1793;
(4) Mary Consett (later Bell)** (1729-1808), baptised at Thirsk, 18 July 1729; died unmarried, 7 August, and was buried at Thirsk, 11 August 1808;
(5) Rachel Consett (later Bell) (1733-1810), baptised at Thirsk, 12 December 1733; married, 11 November 1754 at Thirsk, Ralph Livesey (c.1728-1803) of Livesey (Lancs); buried at St Peter, Burnley (Lancs), 7 May 1810;
(6) Elizabeth Bell (1736-53), baptised at Thirsk, 26 May 1736; died unmarried and was buried at Thirsk, 21 November 1753.

He inherited Thirsk Hall from his maternal uncle in 1735. He lived latterly at Brawith Hall, which he presumably rented from his Consett relations.

He died 31 December 1770 and was buried at Thirsk, 4 January 1771; his will was proved 19 March 1772. His wife was buried at Thirsk, 3 June 1754.

* The name is not very clear in the register.

** Some accounts (including VCH Lancashire, vol. 6, pp. 284-89) state that she married Peter Livesay (d. 1766), and was the channel through which the Livesey estates came to the Bells later; but this seems to involve a confusion with her sister Rachel. Her burial entry at Thirsk in 1808 calls her Mary Bell and describes her as 'spinster sister of Ralph Bell'. The confusion appears to have originated with Grainge's The vale of Mowbray, 1859, which also muddles the generations of the Bell family.

Ralph Bell (1720-1801)
Consett (later Bell), Ralph (1720-1801). Elder son of Ralph Consett (later Bell) (1690-1770) and his wife Mary Inchbord?, baptised at Thirsk, 12 October 1720. Educated at Beverley (Yorks ER) and St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1740). His portrait and that of his wife were painted by Thomas Gainsborough during a visit to Bath in about 1773*. JP for the North Riding of Yorkshire. In 1770 he stood for parliament in the Scarborough constituency, but after a tight contest and much electoral manipulation he was defeated by Sir James Pennyman (1736-1808), 6th bt. of Ormesby Hall. He married, 10 March 1761 at New Malton (Yorks), Ann (1730-1813), daughter and co-heir of John Conyers of New Malton (Yorks), attorney-at-law, and had issue:

(1) Ralph Conyers Bell (1762-66), born 17 January and baptised at Thirsk, 3 February 1762; died young and was buried at Thirsk, 21 January 1766;
(2) Peter Bell (b. & d. 1763), born 2 March and baptised at Thirsk, 6 April 1763; died in infancy and was buried at Thirsk, 20 November 1763;
(3) John Bell (1764-1822) (q.v.);
(4) Jane Bell (b. 1767), born 29 January and baptised at Thirsk, 8 March 1767; perhaps died young, but burial not traced;
(5) Robert Bell (later Bell-Livesey) (1768-1831), born 1 April and baptised at Thirsk, 6 May 1768; educated at Clare College, Cambridge (matriculated 1785; BA 1790); took the additional name of Livesey on inheriting the Livesey estate near Blackburn (Lancs), 13 April 1803, but sold the estate in about 1806 and purchased Kildale Hall (Yorks NR) soon afterwards; portait painted by William Barnard; married, 27 October 1794 at New Malton, Jane (1777-1846), daughter of Rev. Dr. John Cleaver (1744-1823), rector of Malton (Yorks), and had surviving issue one daughter; died 15 November 1831 and was buried at Kildale.

He inherited Thirsk Hall from his father in 1770, and remodelled it to the designs of John Carr of York in 1771-73. His widow lived latterly at Sowerby (Yorks NR).

He died 31 October, and was buried at Thirsk, 4 November 1801; his will was proved in the PCY (effects under £2,000). His widow was buried at Thirsk, 4 December 1813.

* The pictures were sold in the early 20th century, but that of Mrs Bell was reacquired by the family later. The picture of Ralph Bell is now in the North Carolina Museum of Art.

Bell, John (1764-1822). Third, but elder surviving son of Ralph Bell (1720-1801) and his wife Ann, daughter and co-heir of Edward Conyers of Malton (Yorks), born 3 October and baptised at Thirsk, 1 November 1764. Educated at Clare College, Cambridge (matriculated 1781; BA 1786). JP for the North Riding of Yorkshire. He married, 12 June 1800 at St Olave Marygate, York, Frances Brady (1773-1810), third daughter of the Hon. William Barnett (d. c.1782) of Arcadia Plantation, Trelawny (Jamaica) and Llysworney (Glam.), and had issue:

(1) Frances Bell (1801-76) (q.v.);
(2) Ann Bell (1802-05), born 22 December 1802 and baptised at Thirsk, 5 January 1803; died young, 5 February, and was buried at Thirsk, 8 February 1805;
(3) Elizabeth Bell (1805-08), born 12 June and baptised at Thirsk, 16 November 1805; died young, 14 April, and was buried at Thirsk, 17 April 1808;
(4) Ralph Bell (b. & d. 1807), born about 10 February 1807; died in infancy, 16 April and was buried at Thirsk, 21 April 1807;
(5) Jane Bell (1808-79), born 24 June and baptised at Thirsk, 24 March 1809; married 1st, 2 September 1833 at St Andrew, Plymouth (Devon), Lt. William Henry Bayntun (1805-49), army officer (retired 1834) and apparently also a solicitor*, second son of Rev. Henry Bayntun, rector of Bromham (Wilts), but had no issue; married 2nd, 18 April 1854 at Thirsk, as his second wife, Maj. Charles Oakley Sanders (1800-83), formerly an officer in Austrian service, son of George Sanders, gent.; died 27 May and was buried at Thirsk, 3 June 1879; will proved 6 September 1879 (effects under £3,000);
(6) John Bell (1809-51) (q.v.).

He inherited Thirsk Hall from his father in 1800.

He died 23 April and was buried at Thirsk, 27 April 1822; his will was proved in the PCC, 9 July 1822. His wife died 1 October, and was buried at Thirsk, 4 October 1810.

* He was articled to Hugh Percy Redpath, solicitor, in 1821, but entered the army in 1827. After retiring from the army he apparently went back to the law and was in partnership with John Slade until 1844. He was separated from his wife, and had a relationship with a woman called Margaret Ann Tull (1817-82), by whom he had issue one son and five daughters. He had a feud with his brother, Samuel Adlam Bayntun, the MP for York, who died of scarlet fever in 1833; when William Henry Bayntun discovered this on returning from India, he is said to exhumed his brother's body and shot him in the face. In 1839 he was confined for about five months in Bethlem Hospital, London, before being discharged.

Bell, John (1809-51). Second, but only surviving, son of John Bell (1764-1822) and his wife Frances Brady, third daughter of the Hon. William Barnett of Arcadia (Jamaica), born 11 August and baptised at Thirsk, 13 October 1809. Educated at Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1827). JP and DL for North Riding of Yorkshire; Liberal MP for Thirsk, 1841-51. Around the beginning of 1849 he became mentally ill, reportedly believing that he was a bird of prey, and he was declared a lunatic in July 1849. However, he remained a member of Parliament as there was then no mechanism for his removal in these circumstances. He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited Thirsk Hall from his father in 1822, and at his death it passed to his nephew, Frederick Macbean (later Bell).

He died 5 March 1851; his will was proved 20 June 1851.

Bell, Frances (1801-76). Elder daughter of John Bell (1764-1822) and his wife Frances Brady, third daughter of the Hon. William Barnett of Arcadia (Jamaica), born 7 October and baptised at Thirsk, 15 December 1801. She married, 2 September 1823 at Kildale (Yorks NR), Rev. William Macbean MA (1797-1855), rector of Peter Tavy (Devon), son of William Macbean of Roaring River Plantation, St. Ann (Jamaica), and had issue:

(1) William Barnett Macbean (b. 1825), baptised at Peter Tavy, 1 December 1825; probably died in infancy;
(2) Frances Bell Macbean (1827-59) (q.v.);
(3) Frederick Macbean (later Bell) (1830-75) (q.v.);
(4) Archibald Macbean (1832-69), born 6 July 1832; farmer; died unmarried and without issue, 5 July, and was buried at Thirsk, 9 July 1869; administration of his goods granted to his mother, 5 November 1869 (effects under £5,000);
(5) Alfred Macbean (1834-47?), baptised at Peter Tavy, 18 August 1834; said to have died young, October 1847;
(6) Elizabeth Macbean (1835-99), baptised at Peter Tavy, 8 February 1835; married, 6 December 1860 at Thirsk, Henry Robert Markham (later Clifton) (1832-96) of Clifton Hall (Notts), only son of Rev. Henry Spencer Markham (1805-44), rector of Clifton (Notts), but died without issue, 18 June and was buried at Clifton (Notts), 22 June 1899; her will was proved 19 August 1899 (estate £109,903).

She died 4 February 1876; will proved 8 March 1876 (effects under £20,000). Her husband died 13 July 1855.

Macbean (later Bell), Frederic (1830-75). Second, but eldest son of Rev. William Macbean (1797-1855), rector of Peter Tavy (Devon), and his wife Frances, elder daughter of John Bell (1764-1822) of Thirsk Hall, born 7 December 1830. Educated at Magdalen College, Oxford (matriculated 1851). He took the name and arms of Bell by royal licence, 1852. An officer in the North Yorkshire Rifles (Lt.; Capt., 1855); JP and DL (from 1852) for North Riding of Yorkshire, and a freemason. He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited Thirsk Hall from his maternal uncle in 1851. At his death it passed to his mother (d. 1876) and aunt (d. 1879) and uncle (d. 1883), and then to his nephew, Reginald Smith (later Bell) (1848-1921).

He died unexpectedly of a heart attack, 12 January, and was buried at Thirsk, 19 January 1875; administration of his goods was granted to his mother, 11 February 1875 (effects under £25,000), and regranted after her death, August 1876.

Macbean, Frances Bell (1827-59). Elder daughter of Rev. William Macbean (1797-1855), rector of Peter Tavy (Devon), and his wife Frances, elder daughter of John Bell (1764-1822) of Thirsk Hall, baptised at Peter Tavy (Devon), 5 April 1827. She married, 2 September 1847 at Peter Tavy, her cousin, Rev. Henry Smith (1820-1904), vicar of Butlers Marston, 1844-46 and rector of Easton Maudit (Northants), 1847-74, fourth son of Very Rev. Dr. Samuel Smith (1765-1841), Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, 1824-31, and had issue:

(1) Reginald Smith (later Bell) (1848-1921) (q.v.);
(2) Henry Smith (1850-97), baptised at Easton Maudit, 4 May 1850; solicitor in Market Place, Thirsk; clerk of the course at Thirsk Racecourse; married, 10 August 1876 at Thirsk, Jane (1853-1921), daughter of George Lancaster of Thirsk, saddler, and had issue one son and one daughter; died 2 September and was buried at Thirsk, 5 September 1897;
(3) Frances Elizabeth Smith (1851-1922), baptised at Easton Maudit, 6 October 1851; married, 3 February 1887, Rev. Alleyne Fitzherbert MA (1860-1949), rector of Scrayingham with Leppington and Howsham (Yorks ER), 1897-1913, Somersal Herbert (Derbys), 1913-17, and Manby (Lincs), 1928-37, son of Rev. Alleyne Fitzherbert (1815-60), but had no issue; died 7 July 1922;
(4) Archibald Smith (b. & d. 1853), born and baptised at Easton Maudit, 4 January 1853; died in infancy and was buried at Easton Maudit, 8 January 1853;
(5) Frederick Smith (1853-73), baptised at Easton Maudit, 8 December 1853; died unmarried and was buried at Easton Maudit, 18 April 1873;
(6) Josephine Henrietta Smith (1855-1933), baptised at Easton Maudit, 27 June 1855; lived in Kirkgate, Thirsk; died unmarried, 21 December 1933 and was buried at Thirsk.

She lived with her husband at the rectory in Easton Maudit. After retiring from the living there in 1874 he lived at Clarendon House, Redcar (Yorks NR).

She died at Saltburn-by-the-Sea (Yorks NR), 28 May 1859, and was buried at Easton Maudit. Her husband married 2nd, 4 June 1861 at Kirkleatham (Yorks NR), Eliza Catherine (1822-93), eldest daughter of Col. Forbes Macbean of Kirkleatham Old Hall, and 3rd, 17 May 1894 at Holmside (Co. Durham), Fanny Ann (1840-1925), daughter of Rev. Dr. David Brent, vicar of Grendon (Northants), and died 31 March 1904; his will was proved 27 May 1904 (estate £4,298).

Smith (later Bell), Reginald (1848-1921). Eldest son of Rev. Henry Smith (1820-1904), rector of Easton Maudit (Northants), and his wife Frances Bell, elder daughter of Rev. William Macbean, rector of Peter Tavy (Devon), born 7 June and baptised at Easton Maudit, 25 June 1848. He took the name and arms of Bell by royal licence, 6 August 1877. An officer in North Riding Militia (later 1st Volunteer Battn, Yorkshire Regiment) (Capt.; Maj., 1901); JP for North Riding of Yorkshire; Member, 1889-1904, and Alderman (from 1904) of North Riding Council Council; Chairman of Thirsk District Water Co. He married, 3 July 1878 at St Giles, Northampton, Henrietta Elizabeth (1853-1923), daughter of Arthur Bayley Markham (1815-73) of Northampton, solicitor, and had issue:

(1) John Bell (1879-1948) (q.v.);
(2) Violet Eva Bell (1880-1969), born 28 December 1880 and baptised at Thirsk, 15 February 1881; married, 18 June 1902 at Thirsk, as his second wife, Frederick Edmund Walker (1871-1942) of Ravensthorpe Manor, Boltby (Yorks NR), son of Edmund Walker, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 29 January 1969 and was buried at Boltby; will proved 18 March 1969 (estate £32,885);
(3) Lt-Col. Frederic Bell (1881-1937), born 25 December 1881 and baptised at Thirsk, 23 January 1882; educated at Charterhouse and RMC Sandhurst; an officer in the Gordon Highlanders (2nd Lt., 1901; Lt., 1905; Capt. 1910; Maj. 1916; Lt-Col., 1930; retired 1934), who served in the Boer War and First World War and was reported captured as a Prisoner of War in 1914; married, 12 November 1912 at Kirk Hammerton (Yorks NR), Madge (1884-1973), who as County Secretary of the Soldiers', Sailors' and Airmens' Families Association was awarded the OBE in 1942, (and who m2, 12 June 1956, Lt-Col. John Clervaux Chaytor CBE DSO MC (1888-1964), Chief Constable of North Riding of Yorkshire, 1929-58, son of Col. Robert James Chaytor of Clervaux (Yorks NR)), only daughter of Col. Edwin Wilfred Stanyforth CB (c.1862-1939) of Kirk Hammerton Hall (Yorks), and had issue two sons; died 29 July 1937; will proved 25 October 1937 (estate £1,041);
(4) Henrietta May Bell (1883-1971), born 1 January and baptised at Thirsk, 15 February 1883; commandant in British Red Cross Society in First World War; appointed OBE 1918; married, 1 March 1905 at Thirsk, Sir Ulick Roland Burke KCVO (1872-1958), only son of Ulick John Burke of Newton Valence Manor (Hants), and had issue one daughter; died 28 February 1971; will proved 23 April 1971 (estate £145,324);
(5) Rev. Ralph Bell (1884-1967), born 29 September and baptised at Thirsk, 17 November 1884; educated at Charterhouse, Magdalen College, Oxford (matriculated c.1903; BA 1906; MA 1911) and Cuddesdon Theological College; ordained deacon, 1908 and priest, 1909; curate in Hackney (Middx), 1908-11 and Cudworth (Yorks WR), 1911-15; temporary Chaplain to Royal Navy, 1916-20; licenced preacher in diocese of Wakefield, 1920-24; missionary at Penhalonga (Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe), 1924-26 and licenced priest in diocese of Goulburn (Australia) from 1929; joined the Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield (Yorks WR) between 1932 and 1939; died 11 October 1967; will proved 16 February 1968 (estate £6,340);
(6) Margaret Evelyn Heather Bell (1886-1968), born 5 June and baptised at Thirsk, 3 July 1886; died unmarried, 7 March 1968; will proved 30 April 1968 (estate £29,782).

He lived at Sharrow, nr. Ripon (Yorks WR) until about 1879. He inherited the two moieties of the Thirsk Hall estate from his grandmother in 1876 and his great-uncle (Maj. Sanders) in 1883.

He died 23 December and was buried at Thirsk, 26 December 1921; will proved 1 September 1922 (estate £26,438). His widow died 30 March and was buried at Thirsk, 2 April 1923; her will was proved 7 December 1923 (estate £4,930).

Bell, John (1879-1948). Eldest son of Reginald Smith (later Bell) (1848-1921) and his wife Henrietta Elizabeth, daughter of Arthur Bayley Markham of Northampton, born 26 June 1879. Land agent and later landowner, farmer and breeder of racehorses and labradors. JP for North Riding of Yorkshire. He married, 6 December 1906 at Holy Trinity, Bracknell (Berks), Irene Clare (1882-1969), eldest daughter of Lt-Col. Lord Alexander Kennedy (1853-1912), second son of 2nd Marquess of Ailsa, and had issue:

(1) Robert Bell (1907-64?), born 20 September 1907; said to have died unmarried and without issue, January 1964*;
(2) Maj. Peter Bell (1912-91) (q.v.).

He lived at Park Lodge, Kimbolton (Hunts) until he inherited Thirsk Hall from his father in 1921. After his death it passed to his younger son.

He died 11 March 1948; his will was proved 23 June and 23 November 1948 (estate £135,922). His widow died 9 February 1969; her will was proved 1 May 1969 (estate £35,981).

* However, I have been unable to find any official record of a death at this date or any reference to him after 1921.

Bell, Maj. Peter (1912-91). Second son of John Bell (1879-1948) and his wife Irene Clare, eldest daughter of Lord Alexander Kennedy, born 1 February 1912. Educated at Repton and RMC Sandhurst. An officer in the Gordon Highlanders (2nd Lt., 1932; Lt., 1935; Capt., 1940; Maj., 1941; retired 1948), who served in Egypt, Italy and Palestine in the Second World War. JP for North Riding of Yorkshire from 1950; High Sheriff of North Yorkshire, 1983-84; Chairman of Thirsk Racecourse; Chairman of North Riding Agricultural Executive Committee. He married, 14 March 1946, Olive Hilary MBE (1914-2002), younger daughter of Lt-Col. Robert Walker Roylance CBE DL (1882-1962) of London SW1 and widow of Maj. Gerald Fothergill Cooke MC (1910-44), and had issue:

(1) Alexandra Bell (b. 1948), of Crayke (Yorks NR), born 29 January 1948; DL for North Yorkshire; High Sheriff of North Yorkshire, 2011-12; married, 16 September 1967, Michael Charles Holford (1944-2022), elder son of Rear-Adm. Frank Douglas Holford CB DSC (1916-91) of Soberton (Hants), and had issue one son and one daughter;
(2) John Bell (b. 1951) (q.v.).

He inherited Thirsk Hall from his father in 1948.

He died 3 May 1991; will proved 19 May 1991 (estate £1,028,027). His widow died 16 March 2002; her will was proved 8 August 2002.

Bell, John (b. 1951). Only son of Maj. Peter Bell (1912-91) and his wife Olive Hilary MBE, younger daughter of Lt-Col. Robert Walker Rylance CBE DL of Wellesley House, London SW1 and widow of Maj. Gerald Fothergill Cooke MC, born 12 September 1951. Educated at Eton. Landowner and farmer; proprietor of Zillah Bell Gallery, Thirsk, since 1988; director of Thirsk Racecourse and of companies associated with the Thirsk Hall estate. He married, 10 May 1975 at Helmsley (Yorks NR) (div. 1993), Jane Diana (b. 1955), only daughter of Arthur Edward Peter Needham of Old Sleningford Hall (Yorks WR), and had issue:

(1) Daisy Bell (b. 1984), born 17 September 1984; partner in Cramer & Bell, art consultants; took over ownership of Thirsk Hall from her father, 2019; married, June 2014, Willoughby John Gerrish (b. 1985), art dealer and consultant, elder son of Hilary Gerrish of High Glanau Manor (Mon.), and has issue two sons;
(2) Lettice Hunter Bell (b. 1987), born 7 February 1987; farmer; director of Thirsk Lodge Barns Ltd.;
(3) Zillah Bell (b. 1990), born 4 March 1990; travel consultant; director of Bronte Properties Ltd.; chief financial officer of Thirsk Hall Events Ltd.

He inherited Thirsk Hall from his father, and in 2019 handed it on to his eldest daughter. His ex-wife lives at Whitwell Hall, Whitwell-on-the-Hill, Yorks (NR).

Now living. His ex-wife is now living.