Robert Hunter Bell
Shetlopedia - The Shetland Encyclopaedia
Robert Hunter Bell was the eldest surviving son of Robert Bell, Advocate, and Robina Hunter, the heiress of Lunna House and the Hunter of Lunna family estate. A memorial stone to Robert and Robina can be found in Lunna Kirk.
Robert Hunter Bell's father had been appointed Sheriff Substitute of Zetland on the 17th November, 1843, and the following entry from his Shetland Diary, dated January 5th 1844, gives his first impressions of Shetland:
"Arrived at Lerwick after a rather tedious and stormy passage of 52 hours from Aberdeen. Although seen through mist and spray, and covered partially with snow, my impressions of this country were very agreeable, partly perhaps from the contrast of a rough sea. The southern approach to Bressay seemed very fine. Had a visit and invitation to dine from my predecessor Mr Duncan, who was very kind and agreeable."
Sheriff Bell and Robina Hunter of Lunna were married on June 25th, 1846, at Sandlodge, and they lived at Middlebie House, Lerwick. The name "Middlebie" appears to have been chosen in memory of the parish of Middlebie in Dumfriesshire, where Sheriff Bell's ancestors had lived for several centuries. Although they lived in or near Lerwick, Lunna was visited, and a short passage has survived in Robert Bell's Shetland Diary for the 26th September, 1845, written before his marriage, which mentions the house of Lunna and its surroundings:
"Left Midyell after breakfast in a 6 oared boat. Reached Boatsroom of Lunna about 2 pm. Called at the house for a few minutes to get a boat. This is a very beautiful place, very romantic, and picturesquely situated on a narrow isthmus between two voes. The ground is raised - rocks and green sward alternating, or rather intermixed, as in the cliffs of Conningsburgh..."
In 1847, their first child, Mary Elizabeth Bell, was born. She died in 1864. Three sons followed, all of whom died in infancy. Two daughters came next, Josephine Grace Bell, born in 1852 (died 1877) and Robina Dora Bell, born in 1853 (died 1869). Robert Hunter Bell was born in 1856 (more details below), and he was followed by two more sons, Benjamin David Craigie Bell, born 1859, and George James Hamilton Bell, who was born in 1861. Robina Hunter had, as her last child, a daughter called Cecilia Craigie Bell, who was born in 1862.
In the early winter of 1863, Robina Hunter fell ill with scarlet fever ("Scarlatina"), and this was complicated by an attack of "acute rheumatism". At Middlebie House, in the evening of the 16th October, 1863, with her husband present, she passed away. She was only 34 years of age. In his final Deed of Settlement, drawn up in 1886, Robert Bell, her husband, bequeathed her portrait, painted by MacLeay, to their youngest child, Cecilia Craigie Bell.
Robina Hunter's mother, Helen Johanna Bruce of Symbister, seems to have had no interest in her only surviving child, nor in her various grandchildren. Some twelve years after the death of her husband, Robert Hunter of Lunna, she married Mr Thomas Richmond, a surgeon in Edinburgh. They emigrated to Ontario, Canada, and after her husband's death in Gananoque, she returned to Shetland, where she set up the business of Richmond & Co, merchants and fishcurers in Lerwick. Her testament contains the names of a large number of Shetland fishing boats. She died at Lerwick on the 6th May, 1881, and the residue of her estate was left to the descendants of her brother, Robert Bruce of Burravoe. Following the death of her first husband, Robert Hunter of Lunna, she had been the intended beneficiary of a large annuity out of the estate of Lunna, but at the last, the names of her grandchildren had no place in her testament.
Robert Hunter Bell, younger of Lunna, was born at Middlebie on the morning of the 10th August, 1856. In some early photographs, one of which dates from 1863, he looks far from robust, and indeed there is evidence to suppose that he suffered from ill health for the whole of his life. Doubtless he would have been taught how to fish for trout in Spiggie, Brow and other lochs, and would have ridden "Jack", the Shetland pony provided by Clickim'In Robie, and taken walks with his father's dog, "Brush". He would have seen, during these few early years in Shetland, the phenomenon of the skies described by his father some twelve years before his birth, the "Aurora Borealis", called in Shetland, "The Merry Dancers". But his mother died when he was seven years old, leaving a family of very young children. Agnes McCrae Bruce of Symbister came to the rescue, and married Sheriff Bell a few years later. The family then removed to Falkirk, Robert Bell having been appointed one of the Sheriff Substitutes for the Counties of Stirling, Clackmanan, and Dumbarton. At this time, Robert Hunter Bell was sent to the Academy in Edinburgh, and thereafter he began a career in banking, beginning as a clerk. This occupation appears to have given him very little pleasure. On the 29th of July, 1885, he married Kate Jane Morton, the daughter of Thomas Morton, a Marine Engineer (then retired), the ceremony taking place at the West Coates Established Church in Edinburgh (now demolished). The Service was conducted by the Reverend R.G.Forrest, D.D., the Minister of the West Coates Church. On the death of his father on the 9th September, 1887, Robert Hunter Bell entered as heir to the estate of Lunna, and found that it was weighed down by legal or real burdens, extending to several thousands of pounds. He is listed in a contemporary publication as a Magistrate for Orkney and Shetland, and it is known that he did Committee work in local government. Nevertheless, he was forced to face the reduced circumstances of his estate. Down in Edinburgh, his father's sister, Grace Hamilton Bell, a spinster, (died 13th July, 1889), had taken a dislike to Robert Hunter Bell and his wife, Kate Jane Morton, and while leaving all her money to Robert's younger full and half brothers and sisters, she placed them under an obligation to have nothing to do with their eldest brother and his wife, nor with any of their descendants. This was imposed on them on pain of disinheritance, and if they refused to obey her terms, the money was to go to the Barclay Free Church in Edinburgh. In this way, Robert Hunter Bell was unable to turn to his siblings to help him out of his predicament. Quite properly, the Crofters Commission was to reduce the rents of tenants by perhaps some 25%, and there was a slump in the fishing industry. Robert Hunter Bell drew up a Trust Deed, designed to honour the debts owed by the estate, and was almost immediately evicted from the house of Lunna by the Trustee. At exactly this time, his wife left him, and divorce proceedings were completed in January, 1896. In her evidence to the Court, Kate Jane Morton stated that it was she who had been deserted by Robert Hunter Bell, and that the desertion was wilful and malicious. Some details in the evidence submitted to the Court by Kate Jane Morton do not appear to be supported by facts, and are in conflict with each other. Robert Hunter Bell did not compear before Lord Stormonth Darling, nor his deputy, Lord Low, to defend the case. Kate Jane Morton claimed that she was ready to return to her husband, and wanted to do so, but that he was opposed to any reunion. His voice was never heard. In 1907, broken in health, Robert Hunter Bell died at Symbister House, on the island of Whalsay. These few lines are dedicated, with respect, to his memory.
