Thomas Bell (Mayor of Gloucester) - Sir Thomas Bell The Younger

Sir Thomas Bell The Younger

Thomas Bell Jnr. was twice Mayor of Gloucester, in 1543 and 1554/5. During his last term, together with the city aldermen, Bell visited Bishop John Hooper of Gloucester on the evening before the bishop's martyrdom on 9 Feb. 1555. Hooper thanked them for their visit and later Bell chased away people trying to record Hooper's last words at the stake. He is mentioned in Foxe's Book of Martyrs.

Thomas Bell Jnr. married Sibill and had issue:

1. William Bell, married Anne Heyward of Sandhurst, Glos., and had numerous issue. The last entry in the Sandhurst Parish Register for Bell is Francis Bell, 1794.
2. Jane (or Joan) Bell married Thomas Denys of Gloucester, a younger son of Sir Walter Denys(d.1571) of Dyrham Park, and Siston Court, Glos. Thomas Denys became the heir of Sir Thomas Bell the Elder, his wife's uncle, and thereby became for a while the main landlord in Gloucester. The Bell inheritance was largely destroyed during the Civil War when the properties, mainly situated on the outskirts of the city, were destroyed by bombardment. Denys's aunt Margaret Denys married Sir Nicholas Arnold, Thomas Cromwell's assistant in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. His father had obtained part of St. Augustine's Abbey, Bristol. Bell's niece Anne married Sir Ferdinando Gorges, a Somerset man.