This is a selected chronology of important dates and events in the life of Dr. Winthrop Pickard Bell.
1884
Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on May 12, the eldest child of Andrew Mackinlay and Mary Emerancy (Pickard) Bell.
1897
Entered the Halifax Academy at the corner of Brunswick and Sackville Streets to complete his High School education.
1900
Commenced his studies at the University of Mount Allison College in Sackville, New Brunswick, after graduating from the Halifax Academy.
1904
Received a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours in Mathematics from the University of Mount Allison College in Sackville. He also took summer courses at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
1905
Worked as a surveyor on the Halifax and South Western Railway principally in the vicinity of Sable River, Nova Scotia.
1907
Received a Master of Arts degree from the University of Mount Allison College in Sackville. His thesis was entitled, "The Defence of Europe." He subsequently took up work with the National Transcontinental Railway in Northern Ontario.
1909
Received a Master of Arts (Philosophy) degree from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1910
Began studies at Emmanuel College at Cambridge University in England but was forced to leave due to ill health. In the fall of the year he began studying at the University of Leipzig in Germany and attending concerts at the Gewandhaus.
1911
Re-located to Georg-August-Universität in Göttingen, Germany, to continue his doctoral studies under the primary tutelage of noted phenomenologist, Dr. Edmund Husserl.
1914
Completed the doctoral defence of his thesis "Eine kritische Untersuchung der Erkenntnistheorie Josiah Royce's" [A Critical Investigation of Josiah Royce's Theory of Knowledge]. He was awarded a doctorate magna cum laude but it was revoked with the outbreak of the First World War. He became a prisoner of war and spent the next four years in the Ruhleben Prison Camp near Berlin, Germany.
1918
Both of his parents died and he was finally released from Ruhleben Prison Camp.
1919
Became a press correspondent traveling throughout Europe and reporting for British Intelligence, Reuters, and the Danish Press Agency, Ritzau.
1920
Returned to Canada and worked with his brother Ralph Pickard Bell in the timber industry in southwestern Nova Scotia. He also gave a number of talks about the situation in Germany.
1921
Commenced a teaching appointment with the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto.
1922
Bell’s doctoral degree was re-instated by Georg-August-Universität and he began a new teaching appointment in philosophy at Harvard University.
1925
Married Hazel Lawrence Deinstadt at the Ralph Bell home ‘Boulderwood’ in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on October 7.
1927
Resigned his position at Harvard University and moved to Lockeport, Nova Scotia, where he worked as his brother’s overseer in the Lockeport Company fish plant which Ralph Pickard Bell controlled.
1929
Took a cruise with his wife during the winter months to visit the Caribbean and many places in Latin America.
1933
Received a retirement allowance from the Lockeport Company and moved with his wife to a home 'Shore Acres' in Chester Basin, Nova Scotia.
1934
Travelled to Europe to visit with old friends and acquaintances.
1935
Began construction on his home ‘Drumnaha’ in Chester, Nova Scotia.
1936
Moved into the new home in Chester.
1939
Offered his expertise and previous war service to the aircraft production industry predominately at the Clark Ruse Aircraft Ltd. plant in Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia, for the duration of the war.
1940
His wife, Hazel Bell, took in a number of evacuated children of friends from England and was very active in the work of the Red Cross in Lunenburg County.
1945
Began to send CARE packages to friends in Germany.
1948
Started a four year term on the Board of Regents at Mount Allison University. Became a vice-president of the Nova Scotia Historical Society.
1950
Travelled to Europe to again visit with friends and acquaintances.
1951
Became President of the Nova Scotia Historical Society and was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Public Archives of Nova Scotia. Began to experience heart troubles that would plague him for the remainder of his life.
1958
Appointed his sister-in-law’s (Marjorie Young Bell) designated representative for the administration of her financial gifts to Mount Allison University.
1961
Saw the publication of his primary historical work The “Foreign Protestants” and the Settlement of Nova Scotia by the University of Toronto Press. Experienced two heart attacks. He received a Certificate of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History.
1962
Had his work A Genealogical Study published by The Tribune Press Limited in Sackville, New Brunswick.
1963
His work was recognized by the Canadian Historical Society.
1965
Died on April 4 at his home, 'Drumnaha', in Chester, Nova Scotia, and was buried in the Old Baptist Burying Grounds adjacent to the property.