Souvenir Saturday: James Colquhoun Bell's family 1880s/90s

‘The Six Gems’: children of James Colquhoun Bell and grandchildren of Capt William Bell. Precisely which children are shown in the group is at present open to conjecture.

Photo by W F Wallace & Co, 88 Burdett Road, London, ca 1889/90.

In 1891 James Colquhoun Bell and family were living at 5, Lyndhurst Street, Westoe, South Shields.

James Colquhoun Snr’s birthplace is given as Cape Town and his occupation as Marine Enameller (painting work done on ships so he was in the right place at South Shields). His wife Sarah (nee Clark) was born in Blackfriars, London ca 1851. (They married in September 1874 at St Mary Stratford, Bow.)

Their two eldest sons, William Caithness Bell and Alfred Douglas Bell were elsewhere for the 1891 Census. The children listed are James Colquhoun Bell Jnr, b 1880 in Aldgate, London, Hester (Adelaide), b 1882, Henry (Job) b 1883, Ellen b 1884 (these three all born at Mile End Old Town, London), Victor b 1886 at West Ham, and Frederick, a year old, born in South Shields. The years of birth as given in the Census entry are slightly out in some cases, e.g. Hester Adelaide was born in August 1881.

Confusingly, there were three James Colquhoun Bells: (1) Capt. William Bell’s 5th child and 2nd son, born in the Cape in 1847 and head of the household in the 1891 Census mentioned above, (2) James Colquhoun Bell jnr born 1880 in Aldgate to James C and Sarah Bell and (3) James Colquhoun Bell b 1890, son of William Caithness Bell.

Photo courtesy of James Colquhoun Bell Snr's descendant Gordon Brown.