Lt. Christopher James Bell RN (1796-1836) was born in Kippax, Yorkshire, a veteran of the War of 1812, when the Americans planned to invade Upper Canada (Ontario), Canada.

Bell had commanded gunboat HM Murray at the Battle of Plattsburg on Lake Champlain in 1814.  Being a particularly rough battle, Bell lost his leg from cannon ball fire.

Emigrating to Upper Canada about 1817, he was granted 325 hectares of land, partly located at the first chute of the Bonnechere River. By 1829 he had built a timber slide and sawmill, in the vicinity of which there grew up the hamlet of “Castleford”, named for Bell’s birthplace in Yorkshire. The name was later transferred to the present settlement on the Ottawa River.

As magistrate, commissioner of the court of requests, land agent and postmaster, Bell played an active role in the development of Renfrew County. He died on December 23, 1836 in Castleford, Horton Township, Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada and was buried at the Old Burying Ground, Last Duel Park, Perth, Ontario, Canada.

References

The Naval History of Great Britain, from the Declaration of War by …, Volume 6, by William Jameson

Royal Naval Biography; Or, Memoirs of the Services of All the Flag-Officers, by John Marshall