Margaret Bell

  General Notes:

Margaret was 19 years old when she married Robert against the wishes of his
parents.
She was 4 months pregnant and unable to sign her own name. She went on to have 21 children

Stella Cunningham (nee Tinline) remembers her grandmother as an intelligent person with a quiet but forceful personality. She remembers being told that Margaret worked as a servant for Robert's family. Stella's mother (Harriet) was the 19th. child - the previous 7 all died young. Her sons James and Robert were both killed in 1916 in the Great War - they died 6 weeks apart. In later years she lived with her youngest (and only surviving) son William (Bill). Stella used to go shopping for her grandmother and, as far she could remember, she could write as she was always given a shopping list.

Cannot locate Margaret in the 1881 census

  Noted events in her life were:

• Census, 1871, Elswick, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Living at 17 Panmure Street with parents

• Census, 1891, Elswick South, Newcastle, Northumberland, England. Age 23

• Census, 1901, Elswick South, Newcastle, Northumberland, England. Age 33, 47 Cannon Street

Margaret married Robert Bell, son of Henry William Bell and Catherine Beall, on 23 Feb 1884 in Register Office, Newcastle, Northumberland.¹ (Robert Bell was born between 1861 and 1862 in Wallsend, Northumberland, England and died about 1911.)