Sir Stanley Bell, Wigan or nearby

[fenty]

Hi all.  I have found another trail for Rebecca Bell/Johnson.

There was a Rebecca Johnson who is registered around Ormskirk but was born in Southport in 1867.  She was in domestic service age 14 in the 1881 census with it looks like a sister Ellen, who is 3 years older to a very large family called Goodman living in Birkdale, a smart part of Liverpool.

Sadly if you search on her birthplace Southport in 1871, I cannot see anything, so the trail has run dry.  I wonder if she was 'taken in' by the family.

Would like to pin down Rebecca, and am interested how a domestic servant extracated herself to meet and marry Thomas George Bell who had started such a successful wagon company...

Have found out on a Bell family board that Margaret Reason was the maiden name of Joseph Bell's wife and she was born in 1846 or thereabouts in I think Liverpool.


Best wishes Sarah 

[Tati]

That Rebecca was my favourite candidate as well, but without any proof it's a bit hazardous

In 1871 she's with her parents Robert and Ellen

1871
RG10/3875 90 27 & 28
North Meols, Lancashire
Southport
71 Boundary? Rd
Robert Johnson, head, 35, Gardener, b. Southport
Ellen, wife, 25, b. Liverpool
Mary, dau, 10, scholar, b. Lancs Halsall(?)
Ellen, dau, 7, scholar, b. do.
Rebecca, dau, 4, scholar, b. Southport
Elizabeth, dau, 1 mo, b. do.

[Tati]

And here's the only Margaret Reason born ca. 1845 Liverpool that I can see in 1861:

1861
RG9/2970 94 50
Cheetham, Lancashire
21 Whitfield St
Thomas Reason, head, 44, Letterpress Printer Compositior, b. Lincs Lincoln
Margaret, wife, 44, b. Lancashire Liverpool
John, son, unm, 22, Book Keeper, b. do.
Mary, dau, 18, Milliner, b. do.
Margaret, dau, 15, Milliner, b. do.
Ann, dau, 13, b. do.
Luke, son, 8, scholar, b. do.
Lavina, dau, 5, scholar, b. do.
Alice, dau, 3, scholar, b. Manchester
Sarah, dau, 8 mo, b. do.
 

[fenty]

Sorry Tati, no email alerted me to a board reply on this, so I have only just seen your notes.  Thank you so very much, I will plug this in and persevere.

Kind regards,
Sarah 

[bluehaven]

Hi Sarah, i tried to email you i don't know if you got it. My Grandfather Percy was Sir Stanley Bells cousin. They were quite close and Sir Stanley helped him a great deal when he went into politics. My Grandparents didnt know what happened to your mother beyond being married in London?(Not sure if that is correct, but thats what my mother thought). I live in Nottinghamshire now, and work in racing but my family still live in Bolton, where a lot of the family history is. I can't post on here much as it doesnt work on my wap but you can email me on ^(*) . My mother has loads of family history handed down the generations, and we could probably fill you in.
best wishes, Hannah Wright (mother Cynthia Bell)



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[windsor17]

I have just happened by chance upon your entry, and can give you a great deal of information concerning the Bells going back to the late 18th century, and have some photographs dating back to the early 20th century. I am John Roland Bell, the nephew of Stanley, for whom I worked at Astley Industrial Trust from 1961 to 1964. Thomas George b.1871  and Rebecca (nee Johnson) Bell had eight children, of whom Florence b1896, Stanley b 1899, George Arthur b 1901 (my father) and Thomas Roland b 1906 were the only survivors beyond childhood. Rebecca died of influenza at the start of the great epidemic in 1917 and Thomas George remarried ? Dickinson. TG was the eldest child of Joseph b1847 and Margaret (nee Reason) Bell and was born in Holdsworth, Yorks. If you require further information please contact me.

[windsor17]

Sorry, I was called away for supper by my better half. However to continue the saga, Joseph and Margaret Bell had 7 children, Thomas b1871, John b1872, Mary b1874, Joseph b1875, Percy b1878, Fred b1880 and Harry b1881. Joseph and, I believe, one of his brothers (Percy) emigrated to Canada (Hamilton, Ontario) and his son, also Joseph, was still living there in 1982 although they had a second home in Florida. He had in 1982 3 children, Joseph Jnr, Bonnie Lee and Thomas. The original Joseph Bell b1847 was the son of George b1813 and Fanny Bell. George was born in Richmond, Yorks and Fanny b1818 in Newton-on-Ouse. In 1851 he was listed as being a gardener and living in Hawksworth, Yorks but later moved to Halifax. George Bell was the son of Matthew and Mary Bell, Matthew being listed as a Bookseller and Stationer in Richmond. Mary b1784 was the daughter of John Fall, a rope maker of Richmond, whilst Matthew b1776 was very probably the son of another Matthew Bell, a Sergeant and Fifer in the Richmondshire Militia, though I cannot be absolutely certain of that. The latter information was gleaned during a short visit to the N Yorks archives in 2012 in Northallerton but as I was also trying to research details of my mother's family (she died in 1939) and had only limited time, unfortunately I was unable to complete my enquires. Hope this has been of some use.

[windsor17]

Having read earlier entries, Florence nee Bell and Randal Pearson in fact had three sons, Noel and Christopher as mentioned, but also Randal born 22Feb 1922 who as a Sergeant Observer/Wireless Operator RAFVR, was killed along with the pilot at 11pm on 23rd December 1942 when the Blenheim bomber they were flying crashed shortly after take-off from Cranfield aerodrome in Bedfordshire due to engine failure. He is buried in Kempston Cemetry, Bedford. I have letters he wrote to his and my parents during his training as well as a photo in his full flying kit. As the eldest in my generation of Bell cousins, he was very much looked up to by we younger ones. It is perhaps ironic that he should have been flying a Blenheim, as, prior to joining the RAF, he was a trainee designer/draughtsman at the Bristol Aviation Company. A further thought, Thomas George Bell's second wife was Maggie Dickinson. She outlived him but suffered severely from rheumatoid arthritis and used a battery-powered tiller-steered bath chair to get about. She lived in Lytham St. Annes, but when she came to stay with us in Doncaster Yorkshire, it was always my job to keep it charged up.

[Bronte18]

Having read earlier entries, Florence nee Bell and Randal Pearson in fact had three sons, Noel and Christopher as mentioned, but also Randal born 22Feb 1922 who as a Sergeant Observer/Wireless Operator RAFVR, was killed along with the pilot at 11pm on 23rd December 1942 when the Blenheim bomber they were flying crashed shortly after take-off from Cranfield aerodrome in Bedfordshire due to engine failure. He is buried in Kempston Cemetry, Bedford. I have letters he wrote to his and my parents during his training as well as a photo in his full flying kit. As the eldest in my generation of Bell cousins, he was very much looked up to by we younger ones. It is perhaps ironic that he should have been flying a Blenheim, as, prior to joining the RAF, he was a trainee designer/draughtsman at the Bristol Aviation Company. A further thought, Thomas George Bell's second wife was Maggie Dickinson. She outlived him but suffered severely from rheumatoid arthritis and used a battery-powered tiller-steered bath chair to get about. She lived in Lytham St. Annes, but when she came to stay with us in Doncaster Yorkshire, it was always my job to keep it charged up.

Just browsing and picked up your search trail. I am a great granddaugher of Joseph and Margaret Bell. My grandfather was Fred. Joseph was born in Otley (Hawksworth) and had two brothers who died in childhood. His parents were George and Frances Bell who met in Newton on Ouse. This is the estate village for Beningborough Hall, and I Suspect that both of them were estate employees. Frances father George May was a tailor, and most of their relatives seem to be craftsmen or farmers. I have tracked both the families in part to the seventeenth century. Georges father was Oliver and not Matthew. I have a copy of the marriage certificate. I have gone down that false route to the Fall family myself. The family seem to have lived mainly in Bolton on Swale and surrounding villages for as long as I can establish, and undoubtedly could be traced back to the border reiver family of Bells from Gilsland, Cumbria,  and Annan as the border was remarkably fluid until the early sixteen hundreds.
Joseph worked for the Lancashire Yorkshire railway and presumably met Margaret Reason in Liverpool. Margaret's grandfather, Thomas Reason was a flour merchant from Lincoln . Her brother and her grandfather were both Mersey pilots.
Joseph pursued his railway career through Lancashire and eventually set up the Wagon Works where most of his sons also worked, although Thomas was a railway wagon agent based in Leeds with an office in Great George Street. He had a house in Street Lane. On his death, Stanley returned to the family firm, and I understand from my grandmother, probably not the most unbiased of sources, that there was a bit of a family dispute when the firm became a limited company, probably on the deaths of Joseph and son John, his right hand man.
Yes Percy went to Canada and became mayor of Beebe Quebec. They used to send us food parcels in the war.
I have huge amounts of further information, if you have any queries.
Sylvia nee Bell