Biography:
Arthur Bell
1874 –1932
Arthur Bell
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Unmarked grave Arthur Ruthven Bell (1874-1932)
Arthur was born in 1874 in East Barnet, Herts to William Henry Bell Esq. and his wife Jane Mary (née Hodson).
His father died in 1879 aged 37.
In 1881, aged 6, Arthur was a boarding pupil in the vast Wanstead Infant Orphan Asylum which had a capacity for 600 children. It appears that “orphans” had lost their father but not necessarily their mother.
A Directory of 1890 stated that the asylum accepted “orphan children who are respectably descended. Many are the orphans of clergymen, officers and professional men…No candidate is accepted whose parents have not filled respectable positions in society…” Children had to be removed by the age of 15, or on their mother’s remarriage, and confirmation of the father’s death or lunacy had to be provided.
That year his widowed mother was living at Beverley House, East Barnet. She had income from house property. Living with her were her 2 year old son Henry S, her brother William Hodson a horse trainer, a widowed female cousin and three lodgers – a young solicitor and retired Major General James Wilberforce Lewis Bird, late of the Indian Army, and his daughter.
Jane married Major General Bird in 1882. He died 28 January 1886 at Beverley House. (He left £177, just under £19,000 in 2025.)
In 1891 Arthur was with his mother who was “living on her own means” at Beverley House, East Barnet with her sons William, Wilfred, Arthur and Henry Bell.
Arthur was probably a socialist. He inserted a notice in The Clarion newspaper of 14 September 1895 relating to the supply of membership cards for The Clarion Field Club, obtainable from him.
The Clarion was a weekly socialist newspaper and “A large number of associated clubs and societies (cycling, rambling, handicrafts, field, drama and Cinderella clubs, as well as "vocal unions" or choral societies) connected with the paper were created.” (Wikipedia) The Field Clubs promoted a love of the outdoors and, according to Arthur, the membership cards “contain a heap of information necessary to every field klubber [sic]”
He was also a vegetarian and in January 1899 The Barnet Press printed a letter from him protesting that “to celebrate the birthday of “The Prince of Peace” by the wholesale slaughter of the innocent birds and beasts…is a relic of cruel barbarism” and suggesting a feast of fruit, vegetables, cereals, pulses and nuts “with or without eggs, milk and butter…would bring no grief to any sentient creature.”
Arthur married Daisy Ethel Gill in Barnet in 1905 and David Arthur was born at 1911 at 6, Radnor Road, Harrow.
In 1921 the family lived at “Hadleigh”, North Road, Berkhamsted. Arthur was an executive clerk in the Post Office Savings Bank, working at 100, Cromwell Road, Kensington.
He died 12 July 1932 aged 57 at 29, Greenway, Berkhamsted.
View this burial in the cemetery
Unmarked grave Arthur Ruthven Bell (1874-1932)
Arthur was born in 1874 in East Barnet, Herts to William Henry Bell Esq. and his wife Jane Mary (née Hodson).
His father died in 1879 aged 37.
In 1881, aged 6, Arthur was a boarding pupil in the vast Wanstead Infant Orphan Asylum which had a capacity for 600 children. It appears that “orphans” had lost their father but not necessarily their mother.
A Directory of 1890 stated that the asylum accepted “orphan children who are respectably descended. Many are the orphans of clergymen, officers and professional men…No candidate is accepted whose parents have not filled respectable positions in society…” Children had to be removed by the age of 15, or on their mother’s remarriage, and confirmation of the father’s death or lunacy had to be provided.
That year his widowed mother was living at Beverley House, East Barnet. She had income from house property. Living with her were her 2 year old son Henry S, her brother William Hodson a horse trainer, a widowed female cousin and three lodgers – a young solicitor and retired Major General James Wilberforce Lewis Bird, late of the Indian Army, and his daughter.
Jane married Major General Bird in 1882. He died 28 January 1886 at Beverley House. (He left £177, just under £19,000 in 2025.)
In 1891 Arthur was with his mother who was “living on her own means” at Beverley House, East Barnet with her sons William, Wilfred, Arthur and Henry Bell.
Arthur was probably a socialist. He inserted a notice in The Clarion newspaper of 14 September 1895 relating to the supply of membership cards for The Clarion Field Club, obtainable from him.
The Clarion was a weekly socialist newspaper and “A large number of associated clubs and societies (cycling, rambling, handicrafts, field, drama and Cinderella clubs, as well as “vocal unions” or choral societies) connected with the paper were created.” (Wikipedia) The Field Clubs promoted a love of the outdoors and, according to Arthur, the membership cards “contain a heap of information necessary to every field klubber [sic]”
He was also a vegetarian and in January 1899 The Barnet Press printed a letter from him protesting that “to celebrate the birthday of “The Prince of Peace” by the wholesale slaughter of the innocent birds and beasts…is a relic of cruel barbarism” and suggesting a feast of fruit, vegetables, cereals, pulses and nuts “with or without eggs, milk and butter…would bring no grief to any sentient creature.”
Arthur married Daisy Ethel Gill in Barnet in 1905 and David Arthur was born at 1911 at 6, Radnor Road, Harrow.
In 1921 the family lived at “Hadleigh”, North Road, Berkhamsted. Arthur was an executive clerk in the Post Office Savings Bank, working at 100, Cromwell Road, Kensington.
He died 12 July 1932 aged 57 at 29, Greenway, Berkhamsted.
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