BELL, HENRY (17 67-183o), the Scottish engineer, who placed the first steamboat on the Clyde, was born in Torphichen, Linlithgowshire, in 1767. He was apprenticed to his uncle, a mill wright, and then to a shipmodeller at Bo'ness. He then went to London, where he found employment under John Rennie. Re turning to Scotland in 17 90, he first settled as a carpenter at Glasgow and afterwards removed to Helensburgh, on the Firth of Clyde, where he pursued his mechanical projects, and also found occasional employment as an engineer. In Jan. 1812 he placed on the Clyde a steamboat (which he named the "Comet") of about 25 tons, propelled by an engine of three horse-power, at a speed of seven miles an hour. Although the honour of priority is admitted to belong to the American engineer Robert Fulton, there appears to be no doubt that Fulton had received very material assistance in the construction of his vessel from Bell and others in Great Britain. A handsome sum was raised for Bell by subscription among the citizens of Glasgow, and he also received from the trustees of the River Clyde a pension of £ 1 oo a year. He died at Helensburgh on Nov. 14, 183o. A monument to his memory stands on the banks of the Clyde, at Dunglass, near Bowling.