Collection GB - George Douglas Hutton Bell collection

Extent: 40 boxes

Includes lecture notes, 1946-73, reprints of papers by GDH Bell, 1930-87, Plant Breeding Institute (PBI) material, 1928-61, Royal Society papers, 1966-89, United Kingdom Cereal Pathogen Virulence Survey, 1967-91, photographs and slides of barley, wheat, sugar beet, oats, potatoes and PBI

Admin History: George Douglas Hutton Bell, known as Douglas Bell was born 18 Oct 1905. He obtained first class honours in agricultural botany at University College of North Wales, Bangor and joined the Plant Breeding Institute (PBI) at Cambridge in 1928 when it formed part of the School of Agriculture at the University. In 1932 he was appointed lecturer at the Cambridge Department of Agriculture and began his career as a plant breeder. Dr Bell released his first variety, Pioneer, in 1943. This was a winter hardy variety of barley, adapted to British climatic conditions and much in demand during the war years. In 1947 Bell was appointed Director of the Plant Breeding Institute and he oversaw the move to a new larger site separate from the School of Agriculture. They began to produce Proctor barley in 1953 combining malting quality with a higher yield. The PBI moved to Trumpington in 1955 and the next 5 years saw an increased emphasis on plant pathology. From 1960-66 four crop sections were established, cereals, potatoes and brassicas, sugar beet, forage and grasses. In 1965 Douglas Bell was appointed CBE and elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society. He was also awarded the first Royal Society Mullard Award in 1967 for the contribution the Proctor barley bred by him had made to agricultural production in the United Kingdom. A new large laboratory opened in 1970 and glasshouse space also increased. Work on cytogenetics was particularly successful and Dr Bell played a key role in elucidating for wheat breeders the advantages of the process. Although formal links with the University had ceased Dr Bell encouraged graduate students to come and work at PBI before taking up appointments as plant breeders overseas. Dr Bell was the author of several books and numerous papers over a 50 year career including Cultivated Plants of the Farm, 1948; The breeding of barley varieties in Barley and Malt, 1962; Cereal Breeding in Vistas in Botany, vol2, 1963; Phylogeny of Temperate Cereals in Crop Plant Evolution, 1965; Wheat Breeding: the Scientific Basis, 1987. Dr Bell died on 23 Jun 1993.