The Bell/Gibson connection: William Brittain Bell

I have the Bell surname on two of my family lines which leads to some confusion especially as the forename William was favoured by both sets of Bell ancestors. Note that the Bells mentioned below are not related to Capt William Bell.

This almost illegible memorial inscription is that of William Brittain Bell b 1868 d 1922 and his wife Clara Elizabeth ('Bessie') Norrish who married in Lincolnshire in 1895. They lie buried in Town D Cemetery, Barnstaple, Devon. (Photo from Ryan Moore Sept 2011.)

Their children were Hubert Brittain Bell and William Samuel Brittain Bell.

Parents of William Brittain Bell (1868-1922) were Samuel Bell (1833-1874 born Chetwynd, Shropshire and died Everton, Lancashire) and Catherine Thomson Ross (1834-1913 - born and died in Stevenston, Ayrshire, Scotland).

Samuel Bell and Catherine Thomson Ross had, among other children, Annie Bell (born 1859) who married Finlay Gibson in May 1881 at Stevenston, Ayrshire, Scotland. This Annie was my great grandmother. Her daughter, Annie Gibson, was my grandmother who married Joseph Hamilton in 1907 at Stevenston, Ayrshire, Scotland. Annie and 'Joe' Hamilton emigrated to South Africa in 1910 and have numerous descendants in this country.

Souvenir Saturday: Finley Gibson 1841 - 1924

Finley (or Finlay) Gibson, 1841 - 1924, was entitled to the Afghan Campaign Medal, seen above,  as he served in that conflict. My great grandfather, he was in the 15th Hussars from attestation at the age of 18 years in 1859 to his discharge at the age of nearly 40 in 1880. His papers indicate that he intended residing at Stevenston in Ayrshire, though he was a Londoner by birth (birthplace St George's,  Borough, East London, England). 

The reason would become clear. I discovered that living in that Scottish village was his  widowed sister, Margaret McIntyre, with her children. Finley and his brother, William, also a soldier, both made their home with Margaret for a while. Finley married Annie Bell in Stevenston in May 1881 and started his own family. By 1911 he was Foreman of the Dynamite Factory at Ardeer, known locally as the 'dinnamit'. Several of his children worked in the factory - a dangerous environment as explosions could, and did, occur. 

Annie Bell married Finley Gibson in 1881