User:Rich Farmbrough/DNB/H/o/Horace Bell

Horace Bell|1839|1903| Horace Bell (born 1839 died 1903), civil engineer, born in London on 17 June 1839, was son of George Bell, merchant, of Harley Street, London, by his wife Frances Dade, of Norfolk. Educated in France and at Louth, Lincolnshire, he began engineering at fifteen, under Mr. John Wilson, in Westminster, served as apprentice to Messrs. D. Cook & Company of Glasgow, and spent some time later in the workshops of the Caledonian railway. After employment on the London, Chatham and Dover railway he entered the Indian public works department as a probationary assistant engineer on 1 July 1862. At first he was employed on the Grand Trunk road in the Central Provinces (1862-70). On 1 April 1866 he became an executive engineer, and in that capacity, after a few months on the Chanda railway survey, served on the Indore (1870), the Punjab Northern (1874), the Rajputana (1875), and Neemuch (1878) state railways. On the opening of the Punjab Northern in 1883 he was mentioned in the list of officers employed, and was congratulated by the viceroy. Promoted a superintending engineer on 1 January 1880 and a chief engineer, third class, on 22 October 1890, and first class on 31 January 1892, he was successively (1881-4) chief engineer of the Dacca-Mymensingh railway surveys, and (1884-7) chief engineer to the Tirhoot state railway, of which for a time he was also manager. He received in 1887 the thanks of the government of India for services in connection with the completion of the Gunduck bridge on that railway. His next employment was as engineer-in-chief on the surveys for the Great Western of India and the Mogal-Serai rail ways. From 8 August 1892 until his retirement in June 1894 he was consulting engineer to the government of India for state railways, acting for a short time as director-general of railways. Bell published 'Railway Policy in India' (1894), which dealt with constructional, financial, and administrative matters. A paper by him, 'Recent Railway Policy in India' (1900), was reprinted from the 'Journal' of the Society of Arts. For natives of India he published at Calcutta a 'Primer on the Government of India' (3rd edition 1893)  and 'Laws of Wealth' (1883) ; both were adopted in government schools.

On leaving India he established himself as a consulting engineer in London, and under his guidance were carried out the Southern Punjab railway (5 feet 6 inches gauge), 1897, and the Nilgiri mountain railway, a rack railway of metre gauge opened in 1899 (''Minutes of Proceedings Inst. Civ. Eng'.' cxlv. 1). He was elected an associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers 5 March 1867, and a member 30 January 1892. In 1897 he was elected to the council, on which he served until his death. He died at 114 Lexham Gardens, W., on 10 April 1903, and was buried in Brompton cemetery. By his wife Marcia Napier Ogilvy he had issue four sons and five daughters. One son and three daughters survived him. [Min. Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. cliii. 3.19 ; The Times, 11 April 1903 ; History of Services of the Indian Public Works Department.]Template:DNB WFS Spear

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