Stephen Southwold (1887–1964) attended St. Mark's College, Chelsea (1905–07) and worked as a schoolmaster. He became a prolific British writer. Born Stephen Henry Critten, he used a number of pseudonyms, eventually changing his name to one of them, Stephen Southwold. He most often wrote as Neil Bell and also wrote as Miles, Stephen Green, S. H. Lambert, and Paul Martens.
He was born in Southwold, Suffolk. His change of name was apparently a reaction against his father. Initially writing a number of science fiction books, he later concentrated on conventional novels. He also wrote a large number of short stories, many of them under the Southwold name being for children. Bell also wrote several science fiction novels, including The Seventh Bowl (about immortality), The Gas War Of 1940 (about a future war), and the end of the world story The Lord of Life. Who Walk in Fear is a collection of horror stories.
The Common Day (1915) poetryIn Between Stories (1923) as Stephen SouthwoldListen Children: Stories for Spare Moments (1926) as Stephen SouthwoldOnce Upon a Time Stories (1927) as Stephen SouthwoldTen-Minute Tales (1927) as Stephen SouthwoldThe Children's Play Hour Book (1927) editor, and sequelsListen Again Children! (1928) as Stephen SouthwoldHappy Families (1929) as Stephen SouthwoldMan's Great Adventure (1929) as Stephen SouthwoldThe Seventh Bowl (1930) as Miles, then Neil BellTrue Tales of an Old Shellback (1930) as Stephen SouthwoldPrecious Porcelain (1931) as Neil BellValiant Clay (1931) also as The Gas War of 1940, as Miles, then Neil BellLife and Andrew Otway (1931) as Neil BellThe Disturbing Affair of Noel Blake (1932) as Neil BellThe Marriage Of Simon Harper (1932) as Neil BellThe Lord of Life (1933) novel, as Neil BellBredon And Sons (1933) as Neil BellFiddlededee: A Medley of Stories (1933) as Stephen SouthwoldDeath Rocks the Cradle: A Strange Tale (1933) as Paul Martens, then as Neil BellThe Truth About My Father (1934) as Paul Martens, then as Neil BellWinding Road (1934) as Neil BellThe Days Dividing (1935) as Neil BellThe Son of Richard Carden (1935) as Neil BellMixed Pickles (1935) stories, as Neil BellAnimal Stories (1935) as Stephen SouthwoldMore Animal Stories (1935) as Stephen SouthwoldForty More Tales (1935) as Stephen SouthwoldCrocus (1936) as Neil BellLucky Dip (1936) as Neil BellStrange Melody (1936) as Neil BellThe Book of Animal Tales (1936) as Stephen SouthwoldThe Tales of Joe Egg (1936) as Stephen SouthwoldTestament of Stephen Fane (1937) as Neil BellPinkney's Garden (1937)Precious Porcelain (1938) as Neil BellLove And Julian Farne (1938) as Neil BellOne Came Back (1938) as Neil BellThe Smallways Rub Along (1938) as Neil BellNow For A Story (1938) as Stephen SouthwoldNot A Sparrow Falls (1939) as Neil BellThe Abbot's Heel (1939) as Neil BellSo Perish The Roses: a novel of the life of Charles Lamb (1940) as Neil BellThe Desperate Pursuit (1941) as Neil BellThe Spice of Life (1941) as Neil BellPeek's Progress (1942) as Neil BellThe Tower of Darkness (1942) as Neil BellCover His Face: Thomas Chatterton (1943) as Neil BellChild of My Sorrow (1944) as Neil BellA Portrait of Gideon Power (1944) as S. H. Lambert, later as Neil BellThe Handsome Langleys (1945) as Neil BellLife Comes to Seathorpe (1946) as Neil BellA Romance in Lavender (1946) as Stephen SouthwoldAlpha and Omega (1946) stories, as Neil BellForgive Us Our Trespasses (1947) as Neil BellThe Governess at Ashburton Hall (1948) as Neil BellTen Short Stories (1948)Immortal Dyer. A Novel of the Life and Times of Jeff Lister, King of the Commons, the Pride of Norfolk (1948) as Stephen SouthwoldWho Was James Carey? (1949) as Neil BellScallywag (1949) storiesForty Stories (1949) as Stephen SouthwoldI am Legion (1950) as Neil BellThree Pairs of Heels (1950) as Neil BellThe Inconstant Wife (1950) as Stephen SouthwoldThe Dark Page (1951) as Neil BellOne of the Best (1952) as Neil BellLife Comes to Seathorpe (1953) as Stephen SouthwoldWho Walk in Fear (1953) short novels, as Stephen SouthwoldThe Secret Life of Miss Lottinger (1953) novella and stories, as Neil BellMany Waters (1954) as Neil BellTell Me Another (1954) as Stephen SouthwoldMy Writing Life (1955) autobiographyThe Custody of the Child (1955)The Flowers of the Forest (1955) as Neil BellLuke Bramwhite – His Joyous Life and Happy Death (1955) as Neil BellThe Captain's Woman: and other Stories (1955) as Neil BellAll My Days (1956) as Neil BellThy First Begotten (1957) as Neil BellWhat No Woman Knows (1957) as Neil BellMrs Rawleigh and Mrs Paradock (1958) as Neil BellThe Black Sheep (1958) as Neil BellAt the Sign of the Unicorn (1959) as Neil BellSimon Dale (1959)Corridor of Venus (1960) as Neil BellMy Brother Charles (1960) as Neil Bell13 Piccadilly (1961)) as Neil BellThe Endless Chain (1961) as Neil BellThe Narrow Edge (1961) as Neil BellVillage Casanova and other Stories (1961) as Neil BellI Paint Your World (1963) as Neil BellThe Story of Leon Barentz (1963) as Neil BellThe Ninth Earl of Whitby (1966) as Neil BellMissing from Home (1983) as Neil BellThe House at the CrossroadsLove and Desire and Hate stories, as Neil BellHey, Diddle Diddle as Stephen SouthwoldTen Old Men as Stephen SouthwoldThe Last Bus and other storiesThe Sea Horses and other storiesYesterday and Long Ago, as Stephen Southwold 