Dorothy Bell



The Honourable Dorothy Elizabeth Bell (14 April 1894 – 16 January 1975) was a landowner and the owner of Fota House in County Cork, Ireland. Writing about her in 1988, the Irish Examiner defined her as a "colourful and popular character". In 2011, the Irish Independent characterised her as "the mistress of the Big House in Fota." The Irish Examiner has stated that she was its last private owner. In 2019, the Irish Times described her as a "famous horse-woman".

Born Dorothy Elizabeth Smith-Barry in St. George's, Hanover Square, London, UK, and she was the youngest daughter of Arthur Hugh Smith-Barry, Lord Barrymore of Fota. She inherited Fota in 1936. Bell had a half brother, called James, from her father's first marriage, but he died aged eight months old in 1870. A legend surrounds his wet nurse, who on losing her position is said to have cursed the family and "damned its inheritance through the male line". She was a direct descendant of Philip De Barry, founder at the time of Henry II's invasion of Ireland of the Irish Anglo-Norman family of De Barry. On her mother's side, she was the grand-daughter of General James S. Wadsworth, Military Governor of Washington during the American Civil War.

Dorothy Smith-Barry married Major William Bertram Bell in 1917. Bell had three daughters; Susan, Evelyn and Rosemary, who were reportedly looked after by what the Irish Independent called "an army of servants".

Before her marriage, she had served as a British Red Cross Nurse in World War I. She had inherited Marbury, the family house and estate in England in 1925, but decided to sell it in 1936 in order to live at Fota. The Irish Independent reported in 1954 that she farmed 1500 acres with her husband at their estate in Carrigtwohill. Bell lived in Belvelly House when Fota was under renovation.

According to the Irish Independent in 1958, the Fota Estate had been in the possession of her family for hundreds of years. Bell was a director of Smith Barry Estates. For three seasons, she was joint master with her husband of the United Hunt Club. She was a unit officer of the Irish Red Cross in Cobh, as well as being vice-chair of the Cobh branch. She was president of the Cork Area of the Irish Girl Guides. Bell was a member of the Munster Agricultural Society, vice-president of the Victoria Hospital, president of the Ladies' Committee and a member of the Council of the House Committee. Bell was a founder member of the Irish Theatre Ballet, a member of the Cork Orchestral Society and a member of the Friends of the National Collection of Ireland.

Bell died in 1975, four years after her husband in 1971. The youngest of their three daughters, Rosemary Villiers inherited the house. Mrs Villiers and her family moved to England and Fota was sold to University College Cork as an extra mural campus in or about 1975. In 1987, the Irish Independent reported that Bell had "fully supported" the campaign for the purchase of Fota by the State, so that access would be available to the public and that the Arboretum and House would be maintained and developed. In 1993, the Irish Examiner reported that Fota Golf Course's Hole No.2 was named after her. In 2001, the paper reported that Fota House had begun to deteriorate after her death until the Fota Trust was established.

In 2019, Susan Oakes, a daughter of a late friend of Bell, wore her riding gear at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) Dublin Horse Show, celebrating the 100th anniversary of women being allowed to compete on horseback in the Dublin Horse Show. According to Oakes, Bell was an avid hunter and side-saddle jumper, and rode side-saddle at the show in the 1940s and 1950s. To mark the centenary, the RDS hosted an exhibition titled From The Field To The Arena. Inside the library, visitors could read about the history of women at the Dublin Horse Show and view riding gear once owned by Bell.

In 2020, the Irish Examiner described Bell as a "renowned horsewoman".