John Bell (British Army officer)

He went to Sicily a year later and subsequently took part in the Peninsular War until 1814.^[3] During this time, he was decorated with the Army Silver Medal with six clasps and received the Army Gold Cross.^[3] Bell was wounded in the Battle of Vimeiro in 1808 and was in the war's last years assistant quartermaster-general.^[1] In December 1814, he was transferred with his regiment to the United States and was involved in the Anglo-American War until the beginning of the following year.^[1][4] After his return to England, he was awarded a Companion of the Order of the Bath.^[5]

Bell was sent to the Cape of Good Hope as deputy quartermaster-general in 1821^[6] and served as chief secretary to the colony's government from 1828.^[7] At that time his nephew Charles Davidson Bell held the post of Surveyor-General in the Cape Colony. He was appointed an aide-de-camp to King William IV of the United Kingdom in 1831 and was promoted to major-general in 1841.^[3] He joined the board of general officers in 1847 and was nominated Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey in the following year, holding that office until 1854.^[3]

Bell took command of the 95th (Derbyshire) Regiment of Foot in 1850^[8] and became a lieutenant-general in 1851.^[9] A year later, he was advanced to a Knight Commander of the Bath.^[10] In 1853, he received colonelship of the 4th (The King's Own) Regiment of Foot,^[11] a command he held until his death in 1876.^[12] Bell was further honoured with the Order's Grand Cross in the 1860 Birthday Honours^[13] and was promoted to general in June.^[14]

In 1821, he married Catherine, eldest daughter of James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury.^[7] His wife was born in St Petersburg and a godchild of Empress Catherine I of Russia.^[1] She died at Upper Hyde Park Street in London in 1855.^[15] Bell survived her until 1876, when he died, aged 94, at Cadogan Place.^[1] He was interred on Kensal Green Cemetery.^[1]