General Sir John Bell GCB (1 January 1782 – 20 November 1876[1]) was a British soldier and magistrate.

[1] After attending Dundee Academy, he worked first as a merchant and in 1805 entered the British Army as an ensign of the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot.

[1] In December 1814, he was transferred with his regiment to the United States and was involved in the Anglo-American War until the beginning of the following year.

[5] Bell was sent to the Cape of Good Hope as deputy quartermaster-general in 1821[6] and served as chief secretary to the colony's government from 1828.

[7] At that time his nephew Charles Davidson Bell held the post of Surveyor-General in the Cape Colony.