Lieutenant-Colonel William Cory Heward Bell (25 October 1875 – 6 February 1961)[1] was a British Army officer from Wiltshire who fought in two wars, and then became a Conservative Party politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1918 to 1923, and then became a local councillor.
Life[]
Born in Seend in Wiltshire, Bell was the oldest four children of of four children of William Heward Bell[2] (1849–1927) and Hannah Taylor Cory (1850–1942). His younger brother Clive (1881–1964) was an art critic associated with the Bloomsbury Group.[3] The family was raised at Cleeve House near Melksham,[3] a "monstrosity"[4] of a house expanded with a fortune made in the family's coal mines in Merthyr Tydfil. William senior was High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1912, a director of the Great Western Railway and of Nixon's Navigation Company, and a member of Avon Vale Hunt.[4]
Bell was educated at Westminster School before training at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.[1] He was commissioned in the Royal Horse Artillery in 1895[5] and served in the Second Boer War. He retired from the army in 1911, but rejoined on the outbreak of World War I.[1] He served in France, where he was mentioned in dispatches and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the Croix de Guerre.[2]
Bell was elected at the 1918 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Devizes division of Wiltshire.[6][7] He was re-elected in 1922,[8] but at the 1923 election he was defeated by the Liberal Party candidate Eric Macfadyen.[7]
After his defeat, Bell did not stand for Parliament again.[7] He became a member of Wiltshire County Council,[1] and served as High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1932,[9] became a Deputy Lieutenant of the county in 1952,[10] as also also served as a Justice of the Peace for Wilthshire.[1]
In 1903, Bell married Violet Mary Bowley, the daughter of a Royal Engineers officer.[2] They had two children.[1]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Lt.-Col. W. C. H. Bell". London: The Times Digital Archive. 8 February 1961. p. 17. http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=lancs&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=CS285433928&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Arthur G. M. Hesilrige, ed (1922). "Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1922". London. p. 13. https://archive.org/stream/debrettshouseo1922londuoft#page/13/mode/1up. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "History of Cleeve House". http://www.cleeve-house.com/history.html. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Susan Sellers, ed (2010). The Cambridge Companion to Virginia Woolf. Cambridge University Press. p. 23. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZpQ4GG-Ng2gC&lpg=PA23&ots=DVz7xv6djv&dq=William%20Heward%20Bell%20(1849%E2%80%931927)&pg=PA23#v=onepage&q=William%20Heward%20Bell%20(1849%E2%80%931927)&f=false. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
- ↑ "No. 26679". 12 November 1895. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/26679/page/
- ↑ "No. 31147". 28 January 1919. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/31147/page/
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 496. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
- ↑ "No. 32775". 8 December 1922. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/32775/page/
- ↑ "No. 33809". 18 March 1932. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/33809/page/
- ↑ "No. 39661". 3 October 1952. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/39661/page/
External links[]
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Cory Bell
The original article can be found at Cory Bell and the edit history here.