Henry Glassford Bell

1803 - 1874

Author and lawyer. Born in Glasgow, the son of a lawyer, Henry Glassford Bell was educated at Glasgow High School and the University of Edinburgh. He made his name initially in literature; he edited the Edinburgh Literary Journal between 1829-31 and wrote The Life of Mary Stuart in 1830. He abandoned writing to enter the legal profession and rose to become a Sheriff-Substitute at Glasgow. In 1868 he was appointed Sheriff of Lanarkshire.

Retained his interests in the arts, Bell became a founder of the Royal Scottish Academy, wrote an introduction to an 1865 edition of Shakespeare and publishing a volume of poetry (1866).

Bell was interred in Glasgow Cathedral.

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