Robert Bell

Robert Bell FRFPS (6 January 1845 – 20 January 1926) was an English physician and medical writer. He specialised in gynaecology and oncology and was vice-president of the International Cancer Research Society. Bell was also associated with naturopathy and published books on cancer and other diseases. He advocated alternative cancer treatments, including raw foodism, fruitarianism, and vegetarianism. In 1912, the British Medical Journal accused him of quackery. Bell sued for libel and was awarded £2000 in damages.

Biography Early life and education Bell was born in Alnwick, Northumberland, on 6 January 1845. His parents were Scottish and his father was a tanner.

Bell was educated at Alnwick Grammar School. He also studied in Paris. In 1870, he was elected a Fellow of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow. He was also a Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh.

Vance Ferrell wrote that, in the 1870s, Bell developed a treatment for diphtheria and a method for treating smallpox that was intended to prevent secondary fever. Ferrell also wrote that, by the 1880s, Bell had linked constipation with illness and used the term "autotoxemia" for the absorption of toxins into the bloodstream.

Alternative cancer treatment advocacy Bell moved to London in 1904.

In 1909, Bell declined an offer of a baronetcy from King Edward VII, who had read one of Bell's books on cancer and had an interest in the subject. In the same year, Bell gave a speech on the benefits of a fruitarian diet at the newly opened international headquarters of the Order of the Golden Age in London. He was also a council member of the Order and vice-president of the International Cancer Research Society.

From 1910, Bell led cancer research at Battersea Anti-Vivisection Hospital. He recommended fresh air and a vegetarian diet of uncooked vegetables and fruit, nuts, and dairy products to his cancer patients.

Controversy and legal challenges In 1912, the British Medical Journal published an article titled "Cancer, Credulity, and Quackery", which accused Bell of promoting pseudoscience. Bell sued the journal for libel and was awarded £2000 in damages. It included a selection of his micrographs. They had five children; she died in 1891. In 1893, he married Mary Allan Dobie at the parish church in Keir, Scotland; she died in 1899. His third marriage was to Clara Ellen Ross at St Mary Abbotts, Kensington, in 1900.

Bell died at his home in Kensington, London, on 20 January 1926, aged 81. His funeral was held on 25 January at Golders Green Crematorium.

Publications