Sir William Ewart Bell (13 November 1924 – 2 January 2001) was an Irish Rugby Union player and civil servant[1] who became a Rugby Union administrator later in life.
[2] He was Permanent Secretary at the United Kingdom Northern Ireland Office[3] from 1979–84, a time marked by Republican hunger strikes.
He attended Methodist College Belfast, where he was Head Boy and Captain of the Rugby First XV.
He was appointed Permanent Secretary at the Department of Finance in 1976 and became Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service in 1979.
Bell played Rugby Union for Oxford University, Cheltenham, Collegians[7] and Ulster.