Arthur Capel Herbert Bell was born at Epsom, Surrey, on 18 September 1904. His father was John Herbert Bell, a solicitor who was the eldest son of Dr William Bell, general practitioner at Wallasey. The second son, and uncle of Arthur Bell, was William Blair Bell, first President of the College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1929. Arthur Bell was educated at Marlborough between 1918 and 1922 and at St Bartholomew's Hospital from 1922 to 1927. He was house surgeon to the surgical unit where he was influenced by Sir Thomas Dunhill. After this he worked in the obstetric and gynaecological unit and then was gynaecological house surgeon at the Liverpool Royal Infirmary in his uncle's department. He obtained the FRCS in 1930 and was later to serve as a co-opted member of the Council of the College, representing his speciality. He was a registrar at Charing Cross Hospital and obstetric registrar to the Westminster Hospital. In 1933 at the early age of 28 he was appointed to the staff of the Chelsea Hospital for Women and Queen Charlotte's Maternity Hospital, where he came under the influence of Victor Bonney. In 1934 he was appointed assistant obstetric surgeon to Westminster Hospital. He became a member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1932 and was elected a Fellow in 1946. He was examiner to the Universities of Oxford, London, Glasgow, Birmingham and Durham, and also to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Conjoint Board, the Society of Apothecaries and the Central Midwives Board. He was made Honorary Master of Midwifery of the Society of Apothecaries and Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Arthur Bell was an enthusiastic and popular teacher, both of undergraduates at Westminster and of postgraduates at the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. His aphorisms were frequently quoted and he was regularly and affectionately caricatured in the Christmas pantomime at Westminster. Anecdotes about him, many of them apocryphal, were legion. His book *A pocket obstetrics* was the vade mecum of many generations of students, and he was a long time contributor to *Ten teachers' obstetrics*, which owes its title to the fact that each edition has ten authors drawn from the London medical schools. He was a firm supporter of student sporting activities. Generations of Westminster men will remember the cricket matches he organised at Esher and the warm hospitality that followed at his home. Like his Uncle, William Blair Bell, he was dedicated to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. He was a Member of Council as early as 1939 and sat on many committees until he was made Honorary Treasurer in 1952 at a crucial time in the College finances. He was perhaps the main driving force behind the building of the new College, and this was recognised by his election to the presidency in 1960 and knighthood in 1963. From 1963 to 1970 he served as honorary adviser on obstetrics and gynaecology to the Army. Arthur Bell was above all a family man and this was obvious in the warm and cheerful atmosphere of his home. His relaxations were gardening, fishing, tennis and golf and he was an excellent shot. In 1933 he married Hilda Faure whose parents were Dutch. They had three sons and two daughters. The second son, John was a medical registrar at St Thomas's Hospital. He died on November 24 1977 at the age of 73.