Charles Davidson Bell
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Date: 2022-01-24

Charles Davidson Bell, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10128714 / CC BY SA 3.0

#South_African_surveyors-general
#South_African_heraldry
#1813_births
#1882_deaths
#19th-century_South_African_painters
#South_African_male_painters
#19th-century_male_artists
Charles Davidson Bell self-portrait Lt-Gen.
Sir John Bell KCB – Mezzotint – Painted by John Lucas, engraved by Henry Cousins Landing of van Riebeeck at the Cape of Good Hope, 1652
Cape Wagon Crossing a River Charles Davidson Bell FRSE （22 October 1813 – 7 April 1882） was the Surveyor-General in the Cape Colony,
an artist, heraldist, and designer of Cape medals and stamps.
Born on 22 October 1813 at Newhall, Crail, Fife, Scotland, he was educated locally at St Andrews University.
Bell left Scotland and sailed to South Africa, landing at the Cape of Good Hope in 1830 and through his uncle Sir John Bell, Secretary to the Cape Government, was given a post in the civil service.
He was appointed as expedition artist on Dr. Andrew Smith's two-year journey north as far as the Limpopo in 1834.
He went from Acting Clerk of the Legislative Council in 1838, to Assistant Surveyor-General in 1843, to Surveyor-General in 1848.
In 1851, he designed a silver gallantry medal for Cape governor Sir Harry Smith to present to troops during the 8th Frontier War.
This is often referred to as the first South African medal.
Appointed to the Postal Enquiry Board in 1852, he designed the well-known Cape of Good Hope triangular stamp, the first of that shape, which became extremely rare and consequently much sought after by philatelists.
His design of rectangular stamps remained in use until 1902.
Many of his sketches and paintings show a whimsical sense of humour, though his sensitive portrayals of the mixed population of Cape Town and of the tribes he encountered on the Smith expedition to the north,
have become an invaluable record of life in 19th-century South Africa.
The return of many of his paintings from England to Sou...