52 Ancestors Week 8: Prosperity

The theme of Prosperity brings to mind my great-grandfather Walter Underwood's sister and her husband. The newspaper article celebrating the couple's golden wedding anniversary makes them sound very prosperous indeed.

Maldon Golden Wedding

Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Bell.

To-day (Saturday) Mr. John William Bell, J. P., and Mrs. Bell, of Spital Road, Maldon, will celebrate their golden wedding. They were married at the Wantz Road Methodist Church, Maldon.

Mrs. Bell was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. Underwood, of Hawkwell. Mr. Bell is a native of Westgate, near Weardale, Co. Durham, and came to Maldon in 1886 to assist in the construction of the Maldon-Southminster-Southend railway. On the completion of that line he remained in employment with the old Great Eastern Railway as a foreman platelayer, a position he held until he retired on reaching the age limit of 65.

In 1907 Mr. Bell was elected delegate for the G.E.R. Permanent Way Department on the Joint Conciliation Board, representing the extensive Ipswich district. For some years he devoted his spare time to endeavouring to improve the conditions of railway workers, and he played a big part in the reduction of hours and the increase of wages. When the Maldon branch was formed, Mr. Bell was appointed chairman, and he held that office until the branch was amalgamated with the National Union of Railwaymen 17 years later. Mr. Bell has always been an ardent Trade Unionist.

Mr. Bell was for some years chairman of the Maldon Co-operative Education Committee. In 1918 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the borough, and is about to commence his sixth successive year of office as chairman of the Juvenile Court. For three years he served on the Town Council, and for some time was a member of the Maldon Board of Guardians.

Mr. Bell is 74 and his wife 71. There is no family, but Mr. and Mrs. Bell have brought up a niece, who is now a Sister under the L.C.C. at the Eastern Fever Hospital, Homerton.

Source:

"Maldon Golden Wedding," The Essex Newsman, 31 Dec 1938, p. 1, col. 2; digital images, British Newspaper Archive (http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk : accessed 26 Dec 2012), Brightsolid in partnership with the British Library.