Jane S. Bell

Jane Sarah Roberts Bell (1798-1873) ^[1] was a British illustrator. Her illustrations of the African softshell turtle and pale-throated sloth's bone structures were published in A Monograph of the Testudinata and Transactions of the Zoological Society of London.

Illustration (Plate 18) for Thomas Bell's A Monograph of the Testudinata, illustrated by Jane S. Bell

Vol 1 Plate 17 of Transactions of the Zoological Society of London by Jane S. Bell

Personal life

Bell was born to William Robert of Ruabon, Denbighshire, Wales. ^[1] Bell married Thomas Bell at St Mary's Church, Rotherhithe on 3 December 1832. ^[2] The couple had one child, a daughter, Susan Gosse, ^[3] born 29 March 1836. ^[4] Susan pre-deceased her parents on 4 January 1854. ^[3] In 1861/2 Thomas and Jane retired to The Wakes, a house in Selborne, Hampshire, former home of the amateur naturalist Gilbert White. ^[5] Jane died on 29 June 1873, followed by Thomas in 1880. ^[3] She is buried at the Church of St. Mary, a historic church in Selborne. ^[3]

A few of Thomas Bell's works were illustrated by Jane, who signed herself Jane S. Bell.

Works

• AMonograph of the Testudinata. 1832–1836. Summarizes all the world's turtles, living and extinct. The book was authored by her husband, Thomas Bell, and the forty plates are by Jane S. Bell, James De Carle Sowerby and Edward Lear.
• Bell, Thomas (1834). "XII. Observations on the Neck of the Three-toed Sloth, Bradypus tridactylus, Linn". The Transactions of the Zoological Society of London. 1 (2): 113–116. Plates by Jane S. Bell

References

1. "Jane Sarah Bell". Database of Scientific Illustrators 1450-1950.
2. "Births, Deaths, Marriages and Obituaries". The Morning Post (19341). 4 December 1832. p. 8. "Married: on the 3rd inst., at St. Mary's, Rotherhithe by the Rev. Thomas Hardwicke, Thomas Bell Esq., of New Broad-street, to Jane Sarah, only daughter of the late William Roberts, Esq., of the former place."
3. "Thomas Bell (image of memorial stone)". Find a Grave. Retrieved 16 January 2019. "In memory of Thomas Bell F.R.S. Professor of Zoology in King's College London. For some time Secretary and Vice-President of the Royal Society and President of the Linnean Society:- of "The Wakes" in this Parish, who died March 13th 1880, aged 87 years. And of Jane Sarah, his Wife, Daughter and sole heir of William Roberts, Esq., of Ruabon, Denbighshire, who died June 29th 1873, aged 75 years. Also of Susan Gosse, their only Child, who died Jan. 4th 1854, aged 17 years."
4. "Births, Deaths, Marriages and Obituaries". The Morning Chronicle (20378). 30 March 1836. "Births: The Lady of Thomas Bell, Esq., of New Broad-street, of a daughter."
5. Bell, Thomas". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2029 (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)