Archibald Bell (abt. 1773 - 1837)

Born about 1773 in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Maria (Kitching) Bell — married 21 Jun 1794 in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England

Descendants

Died 23 Apr 1837 at about age 64 in Windsor, New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

Archibald Bell is Notable.

Archibald Bell, the son of Archibald Bell and Mother Unknown, was born in 1773 at Hertfordshire, England.

Commissioned an ensign in the New South Wales Corps, he came as a free settler with his wife and family to New South Wales, Australia, leaving England and arriving at Sydney Cove on 7 July 1807.
SHIP NEWS.
On Tuesday last arrived the Young William store ship, Captain Watson with provisions for the use of Government.—She sailed the 19th of February last in company with the Duke of Portland; which she parted in latitude 2° north, the latter having made for Rio de Janiero. The passengers by the Young William are Ensign Bell (and family) and Ensign Masters to join the New South Wales Corps, Mr. Townson, Mr. (formerly Serjeant) Guise and family, and several others.^[1]

In 1808, Bell was one of the officers responsible for the arrest of Governor Bligh. He was called to England for the trial and did not return until 1812. He was granted a block of land fronting the Tank Stream, but it was "too far away" and he exchanged it for a block nearer to Government House. Later he was granted several hundred acres near Richmond which became his estate of Belmont.^[2]

He was appointed as a magistrate for the Hawkesbury in 1820.

"Archibald Bell (1773-1837), soldier and magistrate, was the son of Archibald Bell, a Nonconformist minister and schoolmaster of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England. He worked for a time as a schoolteacher, and in 1794 married Maria Kitching of Cheshunt. He served in the Hertford Southern Yeomanry as a lieutenant, and was commissioned an ensign in the New South Wales Corps in December 1806. He arrived in Sydney on 12 July 1807 in the "Young William" with his wife and nine children, and property worth more than £500; unfortunately the transport commissioners had felt it 'totally impracticable' also to convey his Alderney cow. He was recommended by 'persons of great respectability', notably Sir Abraham Hume, as leaving the country 'not from distress, unfortunate antecedents, or any circumstance affecting his conduct or character', but in hope that the colony might offer him better prospects. He received a town allotment and 500 acres (202 ha) near Richmond, which Major George Johnston confirmed when he seized power. Another child was born soon after his arrival, and his colonial life was characterized by a continual effort to provide for his large family.
He lost little time in entering the public life of the colony in spectacular fashion. He was the officer to whom William Bligh complained when his daughter was insulted in church on 28 September 1807. Bell was in charge of the guard at Government House when Bligh was arrested on 26 January 1808 and was deeply implicated in this incident, in spite of later denials. Johnston appointed him a magistrate on 27 January and Bell added his signature to the letter thankfully accepting Johnston as the deliverer of the colony; in April, however, he refused Johnston's request to him and seventeen other officers to sign a resolution praising John Macarthur. After Bligh's arrest, Bell served as military commandant at the Hawkesbury, where he had to combat two destructive floods, receiving 1000 acres (405 ha) from Lieutenant-Governor William Paterson for his meritorious service. Before he left for England as a witness at Johnston's trial, Bell had built a comfortable home on his property Belmont, near Richmond, where Lachlan Macquarie visited him in November 1810.
In November 1812 Macquarie confirmed his two grants, a grace he did not extend to other rebels except for good reason, but Bell had performed valuable service and had a large family to care for. Macquarie's confirmation refutes the charges against him by Michael Mason that he was guilty of corrupt and illicit trading at the Hawkesbury. In 1811 he was appointed a lieutenant in the New South Wales Veterans Company and permitted to return to New South Wales, and in 1812-18 he commanded a detachment of the 73rd Regiment at Windsor. In 1818 he acted as barracks master and helped to found the Hawkesbury Benevolent Society.
His greatest colonial activity began with his appointment in 1820 as chief police magistrate in the Windsor area, where he was the first paid magistrate and occupied a government house valued at £1000, as well as his own Belmont. Although an exclusive he supported Macquarie in his evidence to Commissioner John Thomas Bigge. He took his judicial duties as seriously as other aspects of public life. He was on the committee of the 'native institution' from 1819. A devout but broadminded Anglican, he was closely interested in all religious observances in his area. In 1820 he noted with approval that 'several churches in the district are well filled, and almost every respectable family are pretty general in attendance'. In 1822 he signed a recommendation that government aid be given for building a Roman Catholic chapel, and in 1828-29 he chaired meetings of the Wesleyan Society.
His personal and judicial character were controversial. Old men, to whom Samuel Boughton later spoke, thought him a hard master, but Boughton thought this 'exaggerated', and it can be countered by the emphasis others placed on Bell's popularity and the respect in which he was generally held. Certainly he had a harsh law to administer to an unruly frontier society and, as with other benches, the punishments imposed at Windsor were sometimes irregular. The extent to which his social conscience as well as his economic needs motivated him can be seen in the variety of public committees on which he served and of the petitions he signed. He loved performing marriages which his office gave him power to do. He once arranged a union between two quarrelsome convicts; it soon failed and its partners sought a divorce, which Bell agreed to sanction only if they both recited the Lord's Prayer backwards. The marriage continued.
Like his whole class he tried to influence the government's economic policy to his advantage. In 1822 he signed memorials against dollar payments and for the repeal of duties on wool, and in 1831 both he and his son Archibald signed a memorial to Darling protesting about the impossibility of collecting rent on crown grants without ruin to the settlers on them.
On 30 January 1829 a royal warrant for the Legislative Council nominated Bell as the seventh of nine men to fill any vacancy. On 29 September 1832 he was appointed to the council, and held the seat until his death. He generally supported the policies of Governor Sir Richard Bourke, who frequently praised his services. His most notable role was in advocating jury reforms. As a magistrate he had reported favourably on the limited jury system in 1825, and later signed petitions to parliament for the introduction of trial by jury in the English form into New South Wales. With John Blaxland and Robert Campbell junior, he was one of those with 'the largest property and highest respectability' whom Bourke saw as the staunchest supporters in the council of the 1833 Jury Act. He also served on various sub-committees of the council, chiefly those on the administration of justice. He died on 23 April 1837, in Bourke's words, 'an ancient and estimable colonist', both wealthy and respected.
Members of his large family also achieved distinction. Some of his daughters married men who became the first settlers of Queensland. One son, William Sims, explored part of the Hunter valley in 1820 and later settled near Singleton; another, James Thomas, was a local magistrate at Windsor from 1839 to 1844."^[3]

A son, Archibald Jr., was responsible for the discovery of a route, later known as the Bell's Line of Road, across the Blue Mountains. Mount Bell and the town of Bell in the Blue Mountains are named after the family.^[4]

Archibald Bell Sr. died on 23 April 1837 at Windsor, New South Wales.^[5]
DEATH.
On Sunday last the 23d instant, at the Parsonage, Windsor, aged 64 years, Archibald Bell, Esquire, of Belmont. Mr. Bell was a member of the Legislative Council, and previously the Police Magistrate at Windsor, which latter situation he fulfilled with the greatest integrity and honour to himself. He was the eldest son of the Reverend Archibald Bell of Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, a gentleman universally respected and beloved in equal proportion to his departed son, who has left a numerous and amiable family with an extensive circle of friends and acquaintances, to mourn his loss, who will long remember his many benevolent acts.^[6]
Deaths.
At the Parsonage, Windsor, on the 23rd instant, aged 64 years, Archibald Bell, Esq., of Belmont. Mr. Bell was a Member of the Legislative Council, and has left a numerous family to mourn his loss, with an extensive circle of friends who will long remember his many kind and amiable qualities.^[7]

He was buried on the Belmont family property on the Hawkesbury River, near Richmond.^{[8] [9]}

His youngest son, James Thomas Bell, inherited the family estate of Belmont.

Sources

1. ↑ "Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser" (NSW : 1803 - 1842), Sunday 12 July 1807 page 1 column 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/627467#
2. ↑ LIEUTENANT A. BELL. "Windsor and Richmond Gazette" (NSW : 1888 - 1965), Friday 30 October 1914 page 9 columns 2-4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/85858193?searchTerm=Sophia%20Hume%20Bell#
3. ↑ J. D. Heydon, 'Bell, Archibald (1773–1837)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bell-archibald-1762/text1967, published first in hardcopy 1966, accessed online 27 November 2022
4. ↑ Wikipedia article on Bells Line of Road http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bells_Line_of_Road
5. ↑ NSW death registration number 2604/1837 V18372604 21 BELL ARCHIBALD AGE 64 Parents not listed District CE [CE = Church of England Richmond] https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au
6. ↑ "Sydney Times (NSW : 1834-1838), Saturday 29 April 1837 page 3 column 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/252652804?searchTerm=Archibald%20Bell#
7. ↑ "Australian" (Sydney, NSW : 1824 - 1848), Friday 28 April 1837 page 2 column 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/36858578#
8. ↑ https://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/edwin-james-brady/australia-unlimited-hci/page-90-australia-unlimited-hci.shtml
9. ↑ Cemetery Richmond North - Bell's of Belmont Private Burial Ground "Australia Deaths and Burials, 1816-1980", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTCH-431 : 28 January 2020), Archibald Bell

See also"

• 'The Country's Pioneers. Belmont Park.' "Windsor and Richmond Gazette" (NSW : 1888 - 1965), Saturday 15 June 1895 page 6 columns 3-4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66447074#

• Edwin James Brady. Australia unlimited online. (page 90 of 119)

• J. D. Heydon, 'Bell, Archibald (1773–1837)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University

• "Geni", [digital index], http://www.geni.com/people/Lt-Archibald-Bell/6000000000352397290?through=6000000000352387609

• http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bell-archibald-1762