His father Beaupré Bell was eccentric and "hardly allowed his son the common necessaries of life", but owned an estate worth £1500 per annum and also was reported to have had over 500 horses, all unbroken and allowed to roam wild.
He possessed a good library, though neglected with the rest of the mansion.
Bell authored several works on this subject, one on the coins minted by Roman Emperors.
He became Vice-President of the Spalding Gentlemen's Society in 1726, and gave assistance to Francis Blomefield.
[2] By his will he bequeathed his collection of coins and medals to Trinity College, Cambridge, together with 12 volumes of manuscripts that were catalogued, together with the medieval manuscripts, by Montague Rhodes James.