1843-1929
Woollen mill manufacturer, Buccleuch Mill
Arthur Bell was born in nearby Canonbie and moved with his parents to Langholm, where his father John was initially a draper and grocer, then a tweed merchant at 44 High Street.
By 1871, Arthur and his wife Jane Black (1842-1939) from Cumbria had moved into a large house called Hillside, overlooking Langholm. They had three sons, two of whom died in childhood. The youngest, Edward, later became a partner in Arthur’s business.
Arthur worked with his father until the age of 43 when he moved into woollen manufacturing on his own. He purchased Byers Mill in February 1886 and Criterion Mill in November of the same year. He decided to focus on the development of Criterion Mill, renaming it ‘Buccleuch Mill’, and sold Byers Mill to Robert Milligan, a joiner, who converted it into workshops and a hall.
Arthur’s brother Herbert (1842-1887) was minister of the thriving John Knox Church in Mounthooly, a street in Aberdeen. Herbert and his wife Sophia (1844-1902) separated and, perhaps connected with this, Herbert threw himself in front of a train on 21 November 1887 at Kittybrewster Station, Aberdeen.
Herbert had five surviving children, after two infant deaths. His eldest child Harriet (age 14) became a boarder at Esdaile, the Ministers’ Daughters’ College in Kilgraston Road, Edinburgh. His sons John (11) and Herbert (9) moved to Langholm, living with their grandfather John at 44 High Street. His daughters Mary (7) and Alice (6) also moved to Langholm, living with Arthur and his wife Jane at Hillside.
In 1915, Arthur’s family was affected by another suicide, this time his daughter-in-law Eleanor Little, wife of his son Edward. Edward and his five children moved into Hillside from their house Clinthead in the High Street.
On a happier note, Arthur and Jane celebrated their silver wedding anniversary at Hillside in 1919.
Over the course of his life, Arthur was a member of numerous local organisations, including the Eskdale Curling Club, the Mutual Improvement Society, the parish church, the Eskdale Conservative Association, the Eskdale Beekeepers Association, the Parish Council, the Town Council, the School Board and the Thomas Hope Trust.
Arthur passed away in 1929, and Jane in 1939.
| Born | Canonbie, 1843 |
| Parents | John Bell (1808-1898), Christine Calvert (1817-1846) |
| Siblings | Second of three brothers |
| Marriage | Jane Black (1842-1939) |
| Children | Three sons: two died in infancy; Edward (1875-1964) |
| Died | Hillside, Langholm, 1929, aged 86 |