Stephen Southwold (1887–1964) attended St. Mark's College, Chelsea (1905–07) and worked as a schoolmaster.
He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1914 to 1919, then returned to teaching.
Initially writing a number of science fiction books, he later concentrated on conventional novels.
He also wrote a large number of short stories, many of them under the Southwold name being for children.
Bell also wrote several science fiction novels, including The Seventh Bowl (about immortality), The Gas War Of 1940 (about a future war), and the end of the world story The Lord of Life.