David Bell was a surgeon at Belfast City Hospital. The son of William George Thompson Bell, a farmer and mill-owner from Cookstown, Northern Ireland, and Emma Jane Bell, he was born on 20 June 1920. A great uncle, cousin and brother were all doctors. From the Rainey Endowed School he went to Queen’s University, Belfast, in 1939, qualifying in 1945. He completed his surgical training at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Rochester, Guy’s and the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. He spent the year 1956 to 1957 at the University of Illinois Research and Educational Hospital, Chicago, under Warren Cole. On his return he was appointed consultant surgeon to Belfast City Hospital. There he was involved in the modernisation of the old infirmary, insisting on setting up the casualty department and the intensive care unit. He was an active member of the Moynihan Club and was a former president. In 1956 he married Sheila Bell, a consultant anaesthetist. They had three daughters (Rosemary Margaret, Kathryn Ellison and Gillian Cecily) and a son (David William). A keen horseman, David Bell hunted with the North Down Harriers. He died suddenly at home on 24 September 2006.