George John Bell

DSO VD
DSO VD
9th Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
	In office; 23 October 1934 – 19 November 1940
Preceded by	George Mackay
Succeeded by	Walter Nairn
Member of the Australian Parliament; for Darwin
	In office; 13 December 1919 – 16 December 1922
Preceded by	William Spence
Succeeded by	Joshua Whitsitt
	In office; 14 November 1925 – 7 July 1943
Preceded by	Joshua Whitsitt
Succeeded by	Enid Lyons
Personal details
Born	29 November 1872; Lieutenant Colonel
Commands	26th Light Horse Regiment (1920–27); 3rd Light Horse Regiment (1917–19)
Battles/wars	Second Boer War Siege of Mafeking; Battle of Diamond Hill; First World War Gallipoli Campaign; Battle of Romani; Battle of Beersheba; Capture of Jericho;
Awards	Mentioned in Despatches (2); Volunteer Officers' Decoration

Sir George John Bell

DSO VD (29 November 1872 – 5 March 1944) was an Australian soldier and politician. He served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1934 to 1940. He represented the Tasmanian seat of Darwin in the House of Representatives from 1919 to 1922 and from 1925 to 1943, representing the Nationalist Party until 1931 and then the United Australia Party

(UAP).

Early life

Bell was born in

Victoria, and was the eldest son of George Bell and Catherine Bell, née Hussey. Bell was one of 15 siblings, including William R. Bell. He received his education in the outback of Victoria, and worked on his parents’ farm, before joining the Victorian Mounted Rifles.^[1]

Military career

Boer War

Following the outbreak of the

Mounted Infantry as a private. Although travelling back to Australia after the disbandment of the Infantry, he returned to the war, joining the Victorian Mounted Rifles Contingent. He was commissioned as a lieutenant, and was severely injured in a battle in early 1902. He was awarded a Distinguished Service Order for his services in the war.^[1]

World War I

After the war, Bell returned to Australia, settling in the state of

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in April, 1919.^[1]

After his return to Australia, Bell married Ellen Rothwell on 5 November 1919.

Politics

Soon after his demobilisation, Bell was proposed as a candidate for federal parliament at the

Returned Soldiers and Sailors Imperial League and the Tasmanian Farmers and Stockholders Association. He narrowly defeated the Australian Labor Party (ALP) candidate Joseph Lyons in the seat of Darwin, with a campaign that "appealed to a largely rural electorate by condemning government extravagance and the favouring of 'the crowds of workers in the cities'".^[1]

Bell joined the

Country Party prior to the 1922 election, but declined and was defeated by Country Party candidate Joshua Whitsitt with the help of ALP preferences. He reclaimed his seat in 1925 and retained it with comfortable majorities at the next six elections, joining the United Australia Party (UAP) upon its creation in 1931.^[1]

In 1927, he was appointed as

Anglican cemetery, following a state funeral.^[1]

Personal life

Max Meldrum's 1939 portrait of Bell was awarded the Archibald Prize for portraiture, and was subsequently acquired by the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.^[2]

External links

My Tasmanian Families at the Wayback Machine (archived 26 October 2009)

Footnotes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Bell, William G. (1979). "Bell, Sir George John (1872–1944)". Australian Dictionary of Biography (Volume 7 ed.). Melbourne University Press.
^ "Max Meldrum: Hon GJ Bell, CMG, DSO, VD (Speaker, House of Representatives) oil on canvas". Art Gallery of NSW. Retrieved 1 September 2023.

Parliament of Australia
Preceded by George Mackay	Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives 1934–1940	Succeeded by Walter Nairn
Preceded by William Spence	Member for Darwin 1919–1922	Succeeded by Joshua Whitsitt
Preceded by Joshua Whitsitt	Member for Darwin 1925–1943	Succeeded by Enid Lyons

[adb-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Bell, William G. (1979). "Bell, Sir George John (1872–1944)". Australian Dictionary of Biography (Volume 7 ed.). Melbourne University Press.

[2] "Max Meldrum: Hon GJ Bell, CMG, DSO, VD (Speaker, House of Representatives) oil on canvas". Art Gallery of NSW. Retrieved 1 September 2023.

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