Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Bell, Valentine Graeme
BELL, VALENTINE GRAEME (1839–1908), civil engineer, born in London on 27 June 1839, was youngest son of William Bell, merchant, of Aldersgate Street, London, who was subsequently official assignee in bankruptcy. Educated at private schools, and apprenticed in 1855 to Messrs. Wren & Hopkinson, engineers, of Manchester, he became in 1859 a pupil of (Sir) James Brunlees [q. v. Suppl. I]. For Brunlees he was resident engineer in 1863-5 on the Cleveland railway in Yorkshire, and in 1866-8 on the Mont Cenis railway (on the Fell system), for which he superintended the construction of special locomotives in Paris in 1869-70. While in charge of the Mont Cenis line he rebuilt for the French government the route imperiale between St. Jean de Maurienne and Lanslebourg after its destruction by flood. He was elected a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers on 4 May 1869. In 1871 he set up in private practice in London. In 1872-5 he carried out waterworks at Cadiz for a company which failed and involved him pecuniarily. With Sir George Barclay Bruce [q. v. Suppl. II] he constructed, during the same period, a railway for the Compagnie du chemin de fer du vieux port de Marseille.
In 1880 Bell took service under the colonial office in Jamaica, where his chief professional work was done. Until 1883 he was engaged in reconstructing the government railway in Jamaica between Kingston and Spanish Town, extending the line to Ewarton and Porus, and later to Montego Bay and Port Antonio. The governor, Sir Henry Norman, who recognised Bell's capacity and energy, appointed him in 1886 a member of the legislative council. Next year he became director of public works and held the office for nearly twenty-one years with admirable results. Under his direction the mileage of good roads was extended from 800 to near 2000; 110 bridges and most of the modern public buildings were built, and works for water-supply, drainage, and lighting were carried out. He unsuccessfully opposed with characteristic frankness the transfer, in 1889, of the government railways to an American syndicate, which proved a failure, the government resuming possession in 1900. He was made C.M.G in 1903. Bell resigned his appointment in March 1908, and returned to England in failing health. He died in London on 29 May 1908.
He married (1) in 1864 Rebecca (d. 1868), daughter of Alexander Bell Filson, M.D.; and (2) in 1882 Emilie Georgina, daughter of Frances Robertson Lynch, clerk of the legislative council of Jamaica. By his first marriage he had a daughter and a son, Archibald Graeme, now director of public works in Trinidad, and by his second marriage he had two daughters and a son.
[Min. Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. clxxii.; The Times, 1 June 1908.]