William Bell [also known as Will Bell] was born in Westerkirk, Dumfriesshire, Scotland on 17 November 1881. He was articled to James Barbour (1834-1912) and John McLintock Bowie (1871-1957) of Barbour & Bowie in Dumfries, Scotland from 1898 to 1902 and remained with them for a further year as an assistant. He then worked as an assistant to Edwin Bush (1861-1918) in Preston, Lancashire in 1903; to George W. Richardson in Wakefield, Yorkshire in 1903-04; to Frederick Ernest Pearce Edwards (1863-1945) in Bradford, Yorkshire from 1904 to 1906; to G. H. Elliot in Bradford in 1906-07; to Frederick Ernest Pearce Edwards again in 1908-09; and to Dundee City Architects Department in 1909-10. Bell qualified as an architect in 1909 and was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) later that year. He commenced practice as an independent architect in Wakefield in 1910. His address was given as Collingford Farm, Uckfield, Sussex in 1939. He died in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland on 25 November 1968
New wing to Prince of Wales Hotel at Harrogate; remodelling Welbourn Manor, near Lincoln; Irton Manor, near Scarborough; architect for Wakefield Garden Suburb (12 acres); also for Wrenthorpe Garden Village, near Wakefield (45 acres). [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1914]
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001