BELL, Lilian Russell

1866 - 1947

As Mary Lilian Russell, she was born at Huyton, Lancashire on 21 February 1866, second child and eldest daughter of Alfred Holgate Russell (1840-12 November 1893), a watch manufacturer employing over 50 people, and his wife Jenny née Townsend (c1839-8 September 1917), who married at Nuneaton-with-Attleborough, Warwickshire on 3 February 1864. In 1881, Lilian was a 15-year-old scholar, living at Fairlawn, Hyton-with-Roby, Prescot, Lancashire with her parents, 41-year-old Alfred and 41-year-old Jenny and six siblings, Edith 13, Cora 11, Jessie 9, Bernard Alfred 8, Elsie Townsend 6 and Pauline 4, with a governess and a further four indoor servants. Lilian studied at Herkomer's Art School in 1895 and abroad. She married at Toxteth Park, Lancashire in 1899, Oswald Notman Bell (30 January 1866-12 November 1949), a stockbroker's manager, and in September 1899, as Lilian Russell Bell, she exhibited at the Liverpool Autumn Exhibition of Pictures. In 1911, a 45-year-old artist, living at 2 Queen's Gardens, Muswell Hill, Hornsey, Middlesex with her 45-year-old husband Oswald, with their three children, Janice Mary 11, Alfred Russell 9 and Roger Murray 7, all born at Wallasey, Cheshire. She was working in Walberswick, Suffolk during the Edwardian period and exhibited four paintings under her maiden name of Lilian Russell at the Society of Women Artists and fifty-eight under the name of Lilian Bell at the Walker Art Gallery. Mary Lilian Bell was of 4 Princes Avenue, Muswell Hill, London when she died at the Raglan Hall Hotel, Queen's Avenue, Muswell Hill on 15 November 1947 and her husband Oswald Notman Bell died at Kenwyn Lodge, Western Road, Fortis Green, Middlesex in 1949.

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Works by This Artist