Goodeve had turned to philanthropy after retiring as a military doctor, and among his many roles in Bristol civil society he was president of the board of a home for orphaned children.

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

In later life she recalled an incident where an elderly gentleman expressed his annoyance with her interest in the stock pages of his copy of The Times by telling her, "Run away, little girl – I am busy with my lessons, and you must go to yours."

"[9] When Bristol University admitted its first female students in 1876, Bell, at 17, was one of the first three women (alongside Marian Pease and Emily Pakeman) to earn a scholarship.

However, due to recurring bouts of poor health (which would persist throughout her life, until her death), she was unable to complete her full studies at either Bristol or Newnham.

That year's edition of The Englishwoman's Review noted that Bell, "whom we mentioned on a former occasion as intending to settle in London in the hitherto untried profession for a woman of stock and share broker, has an office at 1, Russell Chambers, Bury Street, Bloomsbury.

Women are known to have been professional stockbrokers in other countries before Bell, even without accreditation – such as sisters Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin, who founded a firm together in New York City in 1870.

"[16] (This list cannot be taken as an exhaustive record of all women working as stockbrokers in the UK at the time – at the very least it misses out Gordon Holmes, who had founded her own firm as an outside broker in 1921.)

[9] The Queen journalist and suffragist Margaret Bateson interviewed Bell around 1893, including the piece as one of a series of profiles for her book Professional Women Upon Their Professions: Conversations (1895).

On the night of the 1911 census Bell was recorded as staying at the Ivanhoe Hotel in Bloomsbury with her "lady's companion", Emily Whitford, and with her occupation listed as "private means", indicating that she was likely financially comfortable in her retirement.

[22] When Bell died in March 1920 from heart failure, caused by influenza, she was staying at 3 Alexandra Road, Hampstead – the home of Elizabeth Ashurt Biggs' sister, Maude.

... She 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.