W. D. M. Bell

Walter Dalrymple Maitland Bell (8 September 1880 – 30 June 1954), known as Karamojo Bell after the Karamoja sub-region in Uganda, which he travelled extensively, was a Scottish adventurer, big game hunter in East Africa, soldier, decorated fighter pilot, sailor, writer, and painter.

Famous as one of the most successful ivory hunters of his time, Bell was an advocate of accurate shot placement with smaller calibre rifles, over the heavy large-bore rifles his contemporaries used for big African game.

He improved his hunting skills by the dissection and study of the skulls of elephants he shot. He perfected a technique of shooting elephants from an extremely difficult position, diagonally behind the target; this became known as the 'Bell Shot'.

Although chiefly known for his exploits in Africa, Bell also travelled to North America and New Zealand, sailed windjammers, saw service in South Africa during the Boer War, and flew in the Royal Flying Corps in East Africa, Greece, and France during the First World War.

Early life

Bell was born into a wealthy family of Scottish and Manx ancestry, on the family's estate named

Clifton Hall, (today a school) in Linlithgowshire, near Edinburgh in 1880. Walter was the second-youngest of eight children. His mother died when he was two years old and his father died when he was six. His father Robert Bell owned a successful business in coal and shale oil and the Bell family resided in their stately home near Broxburn, as well as owning the surrounding estate and other country properties.

He was brought up by his elder brothers but ran away from several schools, and he once hit his school captain over the head with a cricket bat.