Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bell, John Montgomerie
BELL, JOHN MONTGOMERIE (1804–1862), an advocate of the Scottish bar, and sheriff of Kincardine, was born at Paisley in 1804. He was educated at the grammar school of that town and at the university of Glasgow. He was called to the Edinburgh bar in 1825, and from 1830 to 1846 assisted, with conspicuous ability, in conducting the court of session reports. In 1847 he was appointed an advocate-depute, and in 1861 sheriff of Kincardine. In 1861 he published a 'Treatise on the Law of Arbitration in Scotland,' a comprehensive and perspicuous exposition of this branch of Scotch law, and the standard work on the subject. He died from the effects of an accident 16 Oct. 1862. In 1863 a poem, 'The Martyr of Liberty,' which he had written shortly after his call to the bar, was published in accordance with directions left by himself.
[Catalogue of the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, Edinburgh; Scotsman, 23 Oct. 1862.]