Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Bell, Charles Frederic Moberly
BELL, CHARLES FREDERIC MOBERLY (1847–1911), manager of 'The Times,' born in Alexandria on 2 April 1847, was youngest child of Thomas Bell, of a firm of Egyptian merchants, who was on his mother's side first cousin of George Moberly [q. v.], bishop of Salisbury. Moberly Bell's mother was Hester Louisa, daughter of one David, by a sister of the Miss Williams who accompanied Lady Hester Stanhope [q. v.] on her sojourn in the East. The two Misses Williams were, it is said, wards of William Pitt. Lady Hester was Mrs. Bell's godmother. An accomplished musician and above the average of her tune and sex in general cultivation, Mrs. Bell first married a naval chaplain named Dodd, and by him had a son who became a general in the Indian army. By her second marriage with Thomas Bell she had four children who grew to maturity, but only the youngest displayed striking ability. Both Bell's parents died when he was a child, and he was sent to England to be brought up by an aunt who lived in Clapham. He attended for a time a little day school in Stockwell, and afterwards went to a school kept by the Rev. William Clayton Greene at Wallasey in Cheshire, where he was chiefly distinguished by his aptitude for mathematics. He was engaged in preparation for the Indian civil service when he developed a tendency to con- sumption and was sent back to Egypt in 1865. There he entered the service of his father's old firm, Peel & Co., in Alexandria, and in 1873 he was admitted as a partner.
But his heart was never in business, and a taste and aptitude for journalism had already asserted themselves. Even in his schooldays he had been in the habit, it is said, of writing to the newspapers ; and having succeeded immediately after his arrival in Egypt in 1865 in establishing an informal connection with 'The Times,' he lost no opportunity of practising his pen as an occasional correspondent. He left the firm of Peel & Co. in 1875, and thenceforth devoted his main energies to journalism. Always an omnivorous reader, he had continued his education during the years he spent in business and with practice had acquired a fluent and vivacious style. With the opening of the Suez Canal and the adventurous finance of Ismail, the Khedive, Egypt was now becoming a subject of international interest, and Bell's ready and incisive pen and access to 'The Times,' coupled with his political insight and his knowledge of all the actors on the stage of Egyptian politics, soon made him a power. In company with two friends he founded the 'Egyptian Gazette' (1880), long the only successful English newspaper in Egypt. His great opportunity came with the Arabi revolt of 1882 and the subsequent British occupation. He had now been recognised by 'The Times' as 'Our own correspondent,' and one of his greatest achievements in that capacity was his telegraphic description of the bombardment of Alexandria, at which he was present on board the Condor with Lord Charles Beresford. In 1884, when he was about to start with the Gordon relief expedition, he met with a serious accident, which detained him in hospital to his intense chagrin and left him slightly lamed for life. He continued, however, at Cairo to play a prominent part in the events by which the Egyptian question was gradually unravelled. 'He was an ideal correspondent,' 'The Times' wrote of him after his death, 'alert in observation, quick and sagacious in judgment, prompt in execution, rapid and yet never slovenly in composition, never sparing himself and never letting an opportunity slip. He knew everyone worth knowing in Egypt, and enjoyed the confidence of all who knew him. It is no secret that Lord Cromer had a warm personal regard for him and always enter- tained a high opinion of his sagacity, regarding his judgment on Egyptian affairs as pre-eminently sound and exceptionally well informed.' His interest in Egyptian politics embraced the welfare of the Egyptian people as well as the international relation. He published in these years ' Khedives and Pashas,' an appreciation of the leading Egyptian personalities of the time, in 1884 ; a pamphlet on 'Egyptian Finance' in 1887 ; and 'From Pharaoh to Fellah,' a series of historical and descriptive sketches, in 1888.
In 1890 he was summoned to England by the chief proprietor of 'The Times' to take up the post of manager in succession to John Cameron MacDonald, who had recently died. The moment was critical in the history of the paper, for it had suffered a heavy loss of money and a serious blow to its prestige during the proceedings, then just concluded, of the Parnell commission. Bell threw himself into the task of repairing the damage, financial and other, with the energy of a giant. Devotion to the interests of 'The Times' soon grew with him to be a religion. He was proud of its power and influence and of its long record of public service, and he had a deep conviction of the importance of upholding its best traditions and so maintaining its efficiency as a regulating force in English public life. He brought to his new task, at which he toiled with little rest for the remainder of his life, an acute and ingenious mind, great quickness of apprehension, insight into character, unfailing resource, and executive ability of a high order. He laboured incessantly to improve its business organisation. During his management an independent literary organ, 'Literature,' ran in association with the newspaper from 1897 to 1901, when it was replaced by a weekly 'Literary Supplement' to 'The Times' ; other supplements, 'Financial and Commercial' and 'Engineering,' were subsequently added. Bell was the first to establish a system of wireless press messages across the Atlantic. His interest in foreign affairs was always especially keen, and he was able to effect many notable improvements in the organisation of 'The Times' service in that field. He was an ardent imperialist, and by his creation or improvement of news services as well as by his personal influence he did no little to further that cause.
Bell's overflowing energies prompted him to utilise the resources of 'The Times' for many enterprises that were strictly beyond the bounds of journalism. He acquired for the newspaper in 1895 the MS. and copyright of Dr. Moritz Busch's 'Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of his History' which he published through Macmillans in 1898 (3 vols.) But 'The Times' itself undertook an ambitious series of publications, including 'The Times Atlas' (1895), a reprint of the ninth edition of the 'Encyclopædia Britannica' (1898) with supplementary volumes (1902-3), and the well-known 'History of the South African War.' (7 vols., 1900-9). Another of Bell's enterprises was 'The Times' Book Club, established in September 1905, which provided a circulating library gratuitously for subscribers to the newspaper, frankly with a view to increasing its circulation. A furious conflict followed with publishers and book-sellers, who deemed their interests injured by the club's practice of selling off second-hand copies soon after publication. Bell defended the club's position unflinchingly, and gave way only after two years' stubborn resistance. In the course of the struggle he attacked many publishing methods, and one result of his strenuous polemic was a general reduction in the selling price of books. Down to 1908 'The Times' was owned by a large number of proprietors without definite liability, but legal proceedings arising out of conflicting rights compelled in that year a reconstitution on the principle of limited liability, and it was mainly owing to Bell's diplomacy and exertions that the transition was smoothly effected. When 'The Times' publishing company was formed in 1908 he became managing director.
Of a commanding personality Bell was for many years a well-known figure in London life and society. In person he was tall and massive of frame and of a constitution that seemed never to know illness or fatigue. But unsparing labour eventually weakened his heart, and he died suddenly in 'The Times' office, while writing a letter on some question of newspaper copyright on 5 April 1911. He was buried in Brompton cemetery. He married in 1875 Ethel, eldest daughter of Rev. James Chataway, by whom he had two sons and four daughters; the eldest daughter died before him.
A portrait painted by Mr. Emile Fuchs in 1904 is in the possession of Bell's widow.
[The Times, 6 April 1911; Encycl. Brit., llth edit., s.v. Newspapers and Publishing; family information and personal knowledge.]