page_title: John Bell (bishop of Worcester)
section_title: Bishopric of Worcester 1539–1543
hierarchical_section_title: John Bell (bishop of Worcester) / Career / Bishopric of Worcester 1539–1543
caption_attribution_description: English: Thornbury, W., London old and New, London Paris and Newyork, 1881, p.337 (Engraving of the Old Church of St. James Clerkenwell) https://books.google.com/
context_page_description: John Bell LL. D was a Bishop of Worcester, who served during the reign of Henry VIII of England.
context_section_description: In 1539, John Bell succeeded Hugh Latimer as bishop of Worcester and was consecrated by Cranmer on 17 August. In the same year he was present during the baptism of Edward VI at Hampton Court.  John Bell's elevation to bishop was accompanied with a difficult managerial legacy, that followed in the wake of Latimer's ambitious reform agenda, and Bell did what he could to restore order and balance while rebuilding the diocese; this has been fairly appraised and noted in that he 'laboured to reverse' Latimer's abrupt restructuring.
  In 1540, Bell was a member of the committee of convocation which pronounced the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves illegal.
  In 1541, Bell supported Archbishop Cranmer in the House of Lords when Cranmer was attempting to bring forward an act for the advancement of the true religion and the abolishment of the contrary" however, this caused a great disruption within the conservative factions and when Bell witnessed this 'he fell away from him'
  In the convocation of 1542, when the bishops undertook the work of a revised translation of the New Testament, the first and second epistles to the Thessalonians were assigned to Bell.
  On 17 November 1543, at Hartlebury Castle, bishop Bell resigned from the see of Worcester with a pension of £133-6s–81/2d, and retired to the parish of Clerkenwell, where he was priest until his death, 11 August 1556.
caption: "The old Church of St. James, Clerkenwell,"
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