in the 34th foot, 11 March 1811. Sent to Portugal, he carried the colours of his regiment for the first time in the action of Arroyo-de-Molinos; was present at the second and final siege of Badajoz, and in the majority of the celebrated actions which intervened between that time and the battle of Toulouse. On being gazetted to the 45th regiment in 1825 he proceeded to India, and was present in Ava during the first Burmese war. Bell became a captain in 1828, and in 1836 was in Canada, where he was actively employed during the rebellion of 1837-8. He commanded the fort and garrison of Couteau-du-Lac, an important position on the river St. Lawrence, and received the thanks of the commander of the forces and his brevet-majority, 29 March 1839, for his exertions in recovering the guns of the fort, which had been sunk in the river, unspiking and mounting them in position, when it had been reported to be impossible to do so. The guns were 24-pounders, sixteen of which, with 4,000 round shot, he recovered from the deep in the middle of a Canadian winter. On becoming lieutenant-colonel of the 1st foot, known as the Royal regiment, 5 Dec. 1843, he next served in Gibraltar, Nova Scotia, the West Indies, the Mediterranean, and Turkey, after which he landed with the allied armies in the Crimea, and was present at the battles of the Alma and Inkerman, and in the siege of Sebastopol, where he was wounded and honourably mentioned in a despatch from Lord Raglan, who appointed him to the command of a brigade. On his return to England he was made a C.B., 5 July 1855, and took up his residence at Liverpool as inspecting field officer until 1859, when he became a major-general in the army. He was in the Royal regiment for the long period of thirty years. From this time onwards he never obtained any further employment, the reason being, as he fully believed, a letter which he wrote to the 'Times,' 12 Dec. 1854, complaining of the deficiencies of the commissariat in the siege of Sebastopol, and soliciting help from the people of England. On 23 Oct. 1863 he was appointed colonel of the 104th foot; he became colonel of the 32nd foot 2 Feb. 1867, and colonel of the 1st foot 3 Aug. 1868. His work, in two volumes, entitled 'Rough Notes by an Old Soldier during fifty years' service,' a gossiping and amusing account of his life and services, was published early in 1867. He was created a K.C.B. 13 March 1867; a lieutenant-general 28 Jan. 1868; and a general 8 March 1873. His death took place at 156 Westbourne Terrace, London, 10 July 1877. He had been twice married, the first time to Alicia, daughter and heiress of James Scott, of Ecclesjohn and Commiston, N.B., and secondly, in 1820, to Margaret Addison, a daughter of Thomas Dougal, of Scotland, banker.
[Dod's Peerage and Baronetage: Army Lists, &c.]
BELL, GEORGE JOSEPH (1770–1843), advocate, brother of Sir Charles Bell [q. v.], the
celebrated anatomist, born at Fountain Bridge,
near Edinburgh, 26 March 1770, was educated
chiefly at home, and very largely by himself,
his mother being left by her husband's death
(1779) in very straitened circumstances.
He does not appear to have had any regular
academical training at the university of Edinburgh, though he attended some courses of lectures there. He was admitted advocate
in 1791. In 1805 he married Barbara, eldest
daughter of Charles Shaw, Esq., of Ayr, by
whom he had several children. Having for
some years previously devoted himself to the
systematic study of the Scottish mercantile
law, then in a very imperfect condition, he
published in 1804 a work in two volumes,
4to, entitled 'A Treatise on the Laws of
Bankruptcy in Scotland,' and in 1810 a
second enlarged and improved edition of the
same work, under the title 'Commentaries
on the Laws of Scotland and on the Principles of Mercantile Jurisprudence considered in relation to Bankruptcy, Compositions of
Creditors, and Imprisonment for Debt.' A
third edition followed in 1816, and a fourth
in 1821. This work, which dealt with the
whole extent of the mercantile law of Scotland, and was the only scientific treatise which did, early obtained a deservedly high
reputation, and brought its author a considerable accession of practice. It took rank with the classic 'Institutes' of Lord Stair, and
was treated by the judges with a respect
which in this country is never paid to any
living jurist, and to but very few amongst
the dead. In 1822 he was elected professor
of Scots law in the university of Edinburgh,
the motion, seconded by Sir Walter Scott,
being carried unanimously. Bell was not
altogether new to professorial duties, having
held for two years (1816-18) the post of
professor of conveyancing to the Society of
Writers to the Signet, devoting the income
to the support of the widow and children of
the late professor, his brother Robert (the
eldest of the family), who were left but ill provided for. In 1823 he was placed on a commission appointed, pursuant to an act of the
same year, to 'inquire into the forms of process in the courts of law and the course of appeals from the Court of Session to the
House of Lords,' in which capacity he very
