John Alexander was the second son of Thomas and Sarah Bell, born in Ireland and came to Australia as a child. He married Francis Georgina Armstrong (ca. 1841–1911) on 3 November 1864 in Sussex, England. He and Francis had three children: Frances Sarah Alexander, Georgina Emma Alexander (Nina) (1866-1944), and Marmaduke Alexander (Duke) (1867-1953?). John Alexander Bell was appointed to the Queensland Legislative Council on 26 September 1866 until he resigned in 1872. He spent most of the 1870s and 1880s in the UK. In 1895 he resided at Merrivale Station, Mitchell. He died on 30 August 1901 at Waterstown, Ipswich.