General Notes

Richard George ("George") Bell (3 Nov 1879--28 April 1914) was born at 5 Highland Street, Eastney, England, and was the second oldest child of his parents.  At the death of his mother (1886), he was seven years old and was eventually sent to live with his Uncle William Bell, where he learned the trade of a fellmonger.  His trade took him to the Lake District to Wales and to Ireland.  He married Hannah Bland Townley (7 June 1879--24 Sept 1959) who was born in Lancaster.  Like his father, George married on December 4 (but in 1901 instead of 1873) in Lancaster, Cumberland.  Eventually George Bell took a job in Punta Arenas far in the south of Chile as the manager of a factory.  Shortly after the birth of his last child and youngest son, Eddie Bell, he died (35 years old) as the result of an industrial accident at the factory.  There were dark suspicions of foul play, but nothing was proved.  His wife Hannah took her four children back to Britain and made a home in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.  There she became a Seventh-day Adventist and raised her children accordingly.  George and Hannah Bell had four children:  Dorothy Bell, George Richard ("George") Bell, Irene Bell, and William Edward ("Eddie") Bell.

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  Recorded Events in His Life

• He worked as a fellmonger (trader in animal hides), then ran factory in Punta Arena, Chile.

• Nickname: George.

• He appeared on the 1881 UK Census on 3 April 1881 in Portsea, Hampshire, England. ⁶

• Fact: was apprenticed to his uncle, a fellmonger in the Lake District, in October 1886. ⁵