Elizabeth Dowager Lady Mansel was the daughter of John Bell, a distant relation. I have not managed to discover much about him so far. I know he lived in Harefield, Middlesex, which is a strange coincidence as we live in neighbouring Ruislip. This made me want to learn more about the family.
John Bell of Harefield
Harefield is a small village so I was intrigued as to where the Bells may have lived in Harefield.
I have been trying to find a copy of his Will. His daughter married William Mansel, 10th Baronet, so they must have had money and connections, therefore some evidence should have survived.
I found one result on the National Archives website, which took me back to The London Archives:
reference CLC/B/192/F/001/MS11936/351/539052
Collection: Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance Group
Created 3 Jan 1788
Insured – John Bell, Harefield Common, Harefield, Middlesex, Esq.
Unfortunately the item is a physical document which hasn’t been digitised. I’m not sure how much information will be in the record, so unsure if it worth making an appointment to view it.
Strangely, I found other relatives mentioned in this group of records recently. Presumably this means they owned property and wanted to insure their property and the contents in case of loss through fire?
According to The London Archives, fire insurance policy registers generally give the following information:
- policy number
- date of policy
- name, occupation and address of policy holder
- brief description of the property being insured
- premium paid
So hopefully I can find out more about John Bell at some point, it sounds like it could be worth a visit.
