Thomas Bell was born Kildare, Ireland in 1798. Around 1829, Thomas and his wife Sarah Bell (nee Alexander) (1803-1853) and their children emigrated to Sydney New South Wales, Australia in charge of convicts. Thomas and Sarah Bell were parents to Mary Isabella (1826-1866), Joshua Peter (1827-1881), John Alexander (1829-1901) and Marmaduke A. (d. 1900). In 1844 Thomas Bell took over a pastoral lease on a large tract of land, Gimba (Jimbour) Station, on the Darling Downs near Dalby. Jimbour Station was run by a manager, Henry Dennis, until 1847 when the Bell family took charge of the leasehold under the partnership of Bell and Sons. The partners in this firm were Thomas Bell and his sons, Joshua, John and Marmaduke. When Sarah Bell died on 12 June 1853, Thomas Bell decided to move to Queensland, leaving Jimbour in the hands of his sons. He died at Waterstown, near Ipswich, Queensland, in 1872.