Robert Linfield Bell (23 August 1929 – 16 November 2011) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party. He had a farming background and represented the Gisborne electorate in Parliament from 1975 until his defeat in 1984.
Bell was born in Blenheim in 1929. His father was Alex Linfield Bell.[1] He received his education at Christchurch Boys' High School, Horowhenua College, and Feilding Agricultural High School. He graduated from Lincoln College in 1951 with a diploma in valuation and farm management.[1][2] In 1954, he married Anne Wilkinson, the daughter of John Arthur Wilkinson, and they were to have two daughters and one son.[1]
He was a farm appraiser for six years, followed by seven years as the Gisborne–East Coast representative of London Wood Brokers (NZ) Ltd. For ten years after that, he was a farm management consultant and valuer. Bell was a director of Gisborne Holdings Ltd.[1]
Bell was a counsellor for the Gisborne Budgetary Advisory Service, a committee member of the Poverty Bay A & P Association, and a director of the YMCA in Gisborne.[1] He served in the Territorials for six years, with the rank of lieutenant, and was appointed as a justice of the peace in 1987.[3]
| Years | Term | Electorate | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975–1978 | 38th | Gisborne | National | ||
| 1978–1981 | 39th | Gisborne | National | ||
| 1981–1984 | 40th | Gisborne | National | ||
Bell joined the National Party in 1958, and was chair of the Kaiti branch from 1962 to 1978.[2] He represented the Gisborne electorate in Parliament from 1975 to 1984,[4] when he was defeated by Allan Wallbank.[5] Bell was part of the small group of National MPs that stopped Robert Muldoon driving home drunk on the night that he had called the 1984 snap election.[6]
Bell was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977, and the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.[3]