Is your surname Bell?

Connect to 89,237 Bell profiles on Geni

Share your family tree and photos with the people you know and love

  • Build your family tree online
  • Share photos and videos
  • Smart Matching™ technology
  • Free!

Peter Bell (1831 - 1885)

Birthdate:
Birthplace: Wigtownshire, Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, United Kingdom
Death: July 13, 1885 (53-54)
Darnaway Dyke Elginshire Scotland, The Kennels, Darnaway Castle, Edinkillie Parish, Morayshire
Immediate Family:

Son of Henry Bell and Mary McKie
Husband of Janet Bell
Ex-partner of Isabella Micklewee
Father of Mary Ann Ramsay Bell; Thomas Alexander Bell; Henry Bell and Samuel Micklewee
Brother of James Bell; Robert Bell; Mary Bell; Jane Bell; Elizabeth Bell and 5 others

Occupation: gamekeeper
Managed by: Gary David Bell
Last Updated:
view all 18

Immediate Family

About Peter Bell

Peter was last employed as gamekeeper for the 13th & 14th Earls of Moray. The estate is centered at Darnaway Castle (pictured). Living at Redstean (Redstone) or "The Kennels" cottage roughly 1860-1885. The gamekeeper's cottage is at Berryley. He was the grandson of Robert Bell and Elizabeth McLauchlin. He is buried at the parish cemetery along with his young daughter. Peter and Janet moved from Wigtown which is on the south-west coast of Scotland to the Darnaway estate some time in the 1860's. I can't help but think that this big move had something to do with the aftermath of the Closures. Rural Scotland must have been nearly depopulated. He would have been fortunate to find employment on an estate rather than immigrating or moving to factory work in an industrial center. See: Back's Morayshire Directory 1863; Place Names of Elginshire, Matheson 1905; Census 1871 Morayshire Dyke. Peter Wilson adds,"Peter started out as a ploughman but I think he learned gamekeeping on the Earl of Galloway’s estate (where he was born) because by 1861 he’s up in Loch Rannoch, Perthshire as what looks like Head Keeper for the Menzies of Castle Menzies. He moved to Moray later the same year so it’s likely he had been at Rannoch for at least a few years. Gamekeepers, even today, don’t switch jobs that often."

view all

Peter Bell's Timeline

1831
1831
Wigtownshire, Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, United Kingdom
1857
November 13, 1857
Newton Stewart, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, United Kingdom
1865
November 10, 1865
Dyke, Moray, Scotland, United Kingdom
1867
November 19, 1867
Dyke, Moray, Scotland, United Kingdom
1871
September 27, 1871
Berryley Dyke, Scotland, United Kingdom
1885
July 13, 1885
Age 54
Darnaway Dyke Elginshire Scotland, The Kennels, Darnaway Castle, Edinkillie Parish, Morayshire