15 Facts About Amy Bell

Amy Bell may have been the first woman stockbroker in the United Kingdom, founding her own brokerage firm in London in 1886.

Charles Amy Bell had been vice consul of the British trade mission in Siam since 1857, arriving with Charlotte in Bangkok two years after the British pressured the King of Siam to sign the Bowring Treaty, opening the country to foreign trade.

Amy Bell was orphaned when she was only six months old, with both Charles and Charlotte dying within a week of each other in September 1859 from unknown causes.

Amy Bell was left in the care of Charlotte's brother John Goodeve in England, a medical student at Queens' College, Cambridge.

Amy Bell in turn placed Bell in the care of his childless uncle, Henry Goodeve, and his wife Isabel.

Amy Bell lived a comfortable childhood on their large, prestigious estate, Cook's Folly, overlooking Avon Gorge, near Bristol, which Dr Goodeve had designed himself.

Amy Bell later won a Goldsmiths scholarship to study at Newnham College, Cambridge.

When Henry Goodeve died in 1884, Amy Bell was an executor of his estate.

Amy Bell used her inheritance as capital to establish her own stockbroking business in Bristol, but by 1886 had moved to London.

Amy Bell established working relationships with male members of the LSE who could perform trades on her behalf, or dealt in commodities which were traded outside of the exchanges.

Amy Bell was perceived as the "first" or "only" British woman stockbroker in a number of contemporary reports before the 1900s.

Amy Bell never advertised, relying on word-of-mouth to source new clients, and her only employee was a female secretary.

Amy Bell received a glowing obituary in the feminist newspaper The Woman's Leader:.

Amy Bell opened an office on her own account in the city where, by her perfect straightforwardness, her genuine interest in the world's affairs, and her attractive personality, she won the sympathy of men of her own class and standing.

Amy Bell was a woman of considerable literary taste, a great reader of poetry, and exceedingly fond of travel.