Joshua Thomas Bell

Joshua Thomas Bell (13 March 1863 – 10 March 1911) was an Australian barrister and politician.

Joshua Thomas Bell
Speaker of the Queensland Legislative Assembly
In office 29 June 1909 – 10 March 1911
Preceded by	John Leahy
Succeeded by	William Drayton Armstrong
Constituency	Dalby
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Dalby
In office 29 April 1893 – 10 March 1911
Preceded by	John Jessop
Succeeded by	William Vowles
Personal details
Born	13 March 1863 Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
Died	10 March 1911 (aged 47) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Resting place	Toowong Cemetery
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Liberals
Other political affiliations	Kidstonites, Ministerial
Spouse(s)	Catherine Jane Ferguson (m.1903 d.1943)
Relations	Sir Joshua Peter Bell (father), John Ferguson (father-in-law), John Alexander Bell (uncle)
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge
Occupation	Barrister

Bell was the son of Sir Joshua Peter Bell, and his wife Margaret Miller, née Dorsey and was born in Ipswich, Queensland. Bell was educated at Brisbane Grammar School and University of Cambridge, where he became president of the union.

Monument at the grave of Joshua Thomas Bell.

Bell was admitted to the English bar and was a marshal on the Northern Assizes circuit in 1888. In 1889 Bell returned to Australia and a year later became private secretary to Sir Samuel Griffith. In 1893 Bell was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for the electoral district of Dalby in which his family home, Jimbour Homestead, was located.[1] He was to hold this seat for the rest of his life. Bell was elected chairman of committees in 1902 and in September 1903 joined the Arthur Morgan ministry as minister for lands. William Kidston succeeded Morgan in January 1906 but Bell held his old position in the new cabinet until November 1907, and was also minister for railways from February to July of that year. Bell was minister for lands in the second Kidston ministry from February to October 1908, and then home secretary until 29 June 1909, when he was elected speaker.

In 1901, Bell unsuccessfully contested the federal seat of Darling Downs in Australia's first federal by-election, but he was defeated by Littleton Ernest Groom, the son of the original member.

Bell died at Rakeevan, his Graceville residence on 10 March 1911 after a long illness.[2] He had married in 1903 a daughter of John Ferguson, who survived him with a son and a daughter. Bell was accorded a state funeral which proceeded from St John's Anglican Cathedral to the Toowong Cemetery[3] where he was buried next to his father.

References

1. "Jimbour House (entry 600941)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
2. "DEATH OF THE HON. J. T. BELL". The Brisbane Courier. 11 March 1911. p. 5. Retrieved 10 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
3. "Family Notices". The Brisbane Courier. 11 March 1911. p. 4. Retrieved 10 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.

Bibliography

• Serle, Percival (1949). "Bell, Joshua Thomas". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
• D. B. Waterson, 'Bell, Joshua Thomas (1863 - 1911)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7, Melbourne University Press, 1979, p. 258. Retrieved 6 July 2009
• Bell, Joshua Thomas — Brisbane City Council Grave Location Search

External links

• Joshua Thomas Bell entry on Jimbour History. Jimbour Homestead was the Bell family home for many years.