In her early twenties Bella was kicked by a horse and a tendon in her leg was severed. For ever afterwards she found she needed to lie down every afternoon but in spite of this, and the obesity which resulted partly from lack of exercise, she achieved lasting fame as being responsible for enabling a valuable source of income for the local peasant women. Embroidery had been practised in Madeira before her involvement but she persuaded friends in England to sell the work of the islanders. She also imported fabrics and thread and drew designs for them and eventually established a flourishing trade which survives in Madeira to this day. During her mother's absences, Bella was responsible for running the household. Bella and her sister Mary, lived at the Carmo, Clapham, London after their parents' death and she died there aged 72.

Penelope Forrest 2013 (born Phelps)

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