The Rev. Sir Nicholas Dodd Beatson-Bell (19 June 1867 – 12 February 1936) was a Scottish colonial administrator, civil servant and later

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

priest.

Biography

He was born in

Aberdour Aberdour (; Scots: , ) is a scenic and historic village on the south coast of Fife, Scotland. It is on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, looking south to the island of Inchcolm and its Abbey, and to Leith and Edinburgh beyond. According ...

, Scotland, the son of Andrew Beatson Bell, who was Sheriff-Substitute of

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

. He studied at

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, Stockbridge, is now part of the Senior Scho ...

and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, under the tutelage of Sir William Markby. He served in the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British Raj, British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 3 ...

. On 7 December 1914 he was made a member of the Council of the

Governor of Bengal In 1644, Gabriel Boughton procured privileges for the East India Company which permitted them to build a factory at Hooghly district, Hughli, without fortifications. Various chief agents, Governors and presidents were appointed to look after co ...

. In 1918 he was made

Chief Commissioner of Assam Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...

, and became the first

Governor of Assam This is a list of governors of Assam, and other offices of similar scope, from the start of British occupation of the area in 1824 during the First Anglo-Burmese War. The governor of Assam is the nominal head of the Indian state of Assam. The ...

on 3 January 1921. He was succeeded by

William Sinclair Marris Sir William Sinclair Marris, (9 October 1873 – 12 December 1945) was a British civil servant, colonial administrator, and classical scholar. He was a member of the Indian Civil Service during the British Raj, and later became Vice-Chancellor ...

three months later. He was made a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander ( GCIE) #Knight Commander ( KCIE) #Companion ( CIE) Appoint ...

in the

1919 New Year Honours The 1919 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Janu ...

and a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes: # Knight Grand Commander (GCSI) # Knight Commander ( KCSI) # Companion ( CSI) No appointments ...

in the

1921 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1921 were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by members of the British Empire. They were published on 31 December 1920. The recipients of honours are displayed he ...

Syed Mujtaba Ali Syed Mujtaba Ali (, ; 13 September 1904 – 11 February 1974) was a Bengali writer, journalist, travel enthusiast, academic, scholar and linguist. He lived in Bangladesh, India, Germany, Afghanistan and Egypt. Early life and education Syed Mujt ...

noted in his memoir পাদটীকা that Rev. Beatson-Bell used to refer to himself as ''নন্দদুলাল বাজায় ঘণ্টা'' (lit. ''Nanda Dulal beats on bell'') and was very fond of his three-legged dog. He used to spend Rs. 75 per month to look after the dog, which was around thrice the salary of a typical secondary school teacher at that time. He left the Civil Service to do missionary work in a small Bengal village. In 1921, Beatson-Bell was ordained a deacon by the bishop of Calcutta, and in 1922 he was ordained priest at York in 1920 by Archbishop

Cosmo Gordon Lang William Cosmo Gordon Lang, 1st Baron Lang of Lambeth, (31 October 1864 – 5 December 1945) was a Scottish Anglican prelate who served as Archbishop of York (1908–1928) and Archbishop of Canterbury (1928–1942). His elevation to Archbishop ...

. He returned home to be curate of

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is on the Yorkshire Coast at the mouth of the River Esk, North Yorkshire, River Esk and has a maritime, mineral and tourist economy. From the Middle Ages, Whitby ...

, and then became a country vicar. He was the vicar of

Cornish Hall End Cornish Hall End is a village on the B1057 road three miles north of Finchingfield and south of Steeple Bumpstead in the Braintree district of Essex, England. The main part of the village is a ribbon development of about 60 houses on either ...

Braintree, Essex Braintree is a town in Essex, England, and is the principal settlement of Braintree District. It is located north-east of Chelmsford, west of Colchester and north-west of Southend-on-Sea. According to the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 Cens ...

, where he died from a heart attack at the age of 68. Beatson-Bell married Jeannie Arbuthnott, daughter of John Campbell Arbuthnott of the Colonial Civil Service and Jeannie Sinclair Hamilton, in

Shillong Shillong (, ) is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India. It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in India, 330th most populous city ...

on 21 November 1911. Together they had two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beatson-Bell, Nicholas 1867 births 1936 deaths People from Aberdour People educated at Edinburgh Academy Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Governors of Assam Indian Civil Service (British India) officers Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India 20th-century English Anglican priests