Compiled by Russell Bastedo
State Curator
1998

Charles H. Bell (1881-1883). Born at Chester; Exeter lawyer. In state politics from 1856.

Charles H. Bell (1823-1893) was one of ten children born to Governor John Bell and his wife; his uncle Samuel Bell had also been governor. Bell attended Pembroke Academy, with one year (1837) at Phillips Exeter Academy. He graduated from Dartmouth College, Class of 1844, and read law for three years until being admitted to the New Hampshire Bar in 1847. He practiced law first in Chester; then at Great Falls (1848/54), then at Exeter (1854/68). Bell lived at Exeter from 1854.

Bell served as Solicitor for Rockingham County (1856/66, 1878) and was a member of the State House of Representatives (1858/60; 1872/73), serving as Speaker of the House in 1860. He was elected to the State Senate (1863/4), serving as President of the Senate in 1864. He lost the Republican nomination for governor to Natt Head in 1879, but was named to fill out the gap between U.S. Senate terms occasioned by changes in the laws covering election days. For four months (March 13-June 17, 1879) Bell was in Washington, D.C.

Bell won the 1880 Republican nomination for governor, and he defeated Democrat, Greenback, and Prohibition Party candidates in the election. The 1881 legislature had first to make a decision on whether to choose a successor to U.S. Senator Edward H. Rollins (1877/83), or to leave the decision to the future 1883 legislature. They opted for the latter, and Rollins was not renominated. Bell proposed changes in laws covering marriage and divorce, and he advocated state prohibition of manufacture of intoxicating liquors. He also oversaw the founding of the first State Health Board.

In retirement Bell did not return to law practice. Instead he turned to historical and literary interests. He was president of the New Hampshire Historical Society for twenty years (1868/87), and a member of several other historical societies. He wrote three books, and was a trustee of both Phillips Exeter Academy and Robinson Female Seminary. He was president of the state's 1889 constitutional convention.

Location: State House, Second Floor
Portrait by U.D. Tenney, 1883; Presented by Governor Bell