George Bell

George Bell was a late-starter, establishing his own newspaper at the age of 60 but running it with aplomb for another 25 years. Born in Kingston-upon-Hull, England, in 1809, Bell began his working life in commerce in his native Yorkshire before emigrating to Australia in 1852. His career in journalism started there when he was appointed Hansard reporter for the Victorian parliament.

In 1863 he crossed the Tasman to become a sub-editor of the Otago Daily Times and editor of its sister publication the Otago Witness. There was a frenzied period in Dunedin newspapers in the late 1860s with sackings, tight competition and takeovers. In January 1869 Bell made the surprising decision to establish his own paper, the Evening Independent. Two months later he bought the much larger Evening Star.

Bell ran his newspaper as both owner and editor for the next quarter century. He knew the business inside out and provided top-class working conditions for his talented staff. By focusing on local news content and maintaining political independence the Evening Star earned a large readership and a national reputation. Bell maintained personal control until he was 85. He then handed over the editorship to Mark Cohen and vested financial control of the paper in his family.

Descendants (through the Smith line of his daughter Hannah) have subsequently maintained a close connection with the newspaper industry in Dunedin. In 1979 the Evening Star ceased publication but the Smith family’s Allied Press still runs the Otago Daily Times, New Zealand’s last independently published daily. George Bell died in Dunedin in 1899, aged 90.