John Holland BELLAMY (1893–1916)
John Holland Bellamy was born at 12 Tackley Place, Oxford on 5 July 1893 and baptised at SS Philip & James Church on 24 August 1893.
He was the only child of Edward Holland Bellamy (born in Oxford and privately baptised via St Giles Church on 28 February 1859) and Zoe Lucas (born in Oxford and baptised at the High Street’s All Saints’ Church on 30 August 1868).
John’s father Edward (the son of the bookbinder Edward Bellamy of St Giles’ Street) was the Clerk of the University Examination Schools, while his mother Zoe was the daughter of Harry Richardson Lucas, Clerk in Oxford’s Diocesan Registry at 9 New Road. They were married at St Peter-le-Bailey Church in Oxford on 7 September 1892.
John Holland Bellamy attended Magdalen College School, and the photograph on the right shows him in its football team in 1908.
In October 1910, when he was 17, John was matriculated at the University of Oxford from The Queen’s College, and at the same time as studying for his degree was articled to the accountancy firm Wenn & Elsom at 55 Cornmarket.
He spent census night of 1911 with his parents and their servant at 244 Iffley Road.
John was awarded a B.A. Pass Degree at a ceremony on 25 June 1914, and then worked at Wenn & Elsom’s accounting office. He continued to live with his parents, and in 1913 the family moved to 131 Lime Walk in All Saints’ parish. (This house at the southernmost end of Lime Walk was called “Netherbury” and was presumably named after the birthplace in Dorset of John’s grandmother, Catherine Holland. It was originally numbered 79.)
John Bellamy volunteered to serve early in the First World War, and was accepted into the Royal Fusiliers on 15 September 1914. In November 1915 he was posted to join the British Expeditionary Force and served as a Lance Corporal in France and Belgium.
He undertook an Officers’ Training Course in August 1916, and then served as a Second Lieutenant in the 13th Battalion attached to 11th Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment). He died of wounds at the Somme aged 23 on 4 October 1916.
Bellamy was buried in France at Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension (III. E. 21).
Left: Photograph of John Bellamy’s grave in Dernancourt, France, kindly supplied by British War Graves. The text reads:
[Emblem of Sherwood Foresters
(Notts and Derby)
]
SECOND LIEUTENANT
J. H. BELLAMY
NOTTS. & DERBY REGIMENT
4TH OCTOBER 1916 AGE 23
†
LET PRIDE DRY OUR TEARS,
AND MEMORY SWEETEN SORROW
Below: J. H. Bellamy’s name on the memorial in the cloisters of The Queen’s College, Oxford:
Bellamy is listed on the roll of honour of All Saints’ Church, Highfield. In October 1916 a Memorial Service was held for Lieutenant John Holland Bellamy in All Saints’ Church, and his parents paid for a memorial stone and a stained glass window in the church (below), depicting St Alban.
Below: Bellamy’s name on the Magdalen College School war memorial
Below: The base of the grave of Edward Bellamy’s parents in Holy Trinity churchyard, Headington Quarry:
ALSO OF JOHN HOLLAND BELLAMY B.A. OXON.
2ND LT NOTTS AND DERBY REGT ONLY CHILD OF THE ABOVE
WOUNDED IN ACTION ON OCT. 1, AND DIED OCT 4, 1916.
BURIED IN DERNANCOURT CEMETERY, SOMME, FRANCE.
Postscript
In 1927 Bellamy’s parents sold Netherbury in Lime Walk and moved to to a smaller house on the south side of Old Road to the east of the Slade (the house, which is in Holy Trinity parish, was originally numbered 38 and is now No. 94).
His mother Zoe died there on 14 March 1935. Edward Bellamy’s unmarried sister Louisa came to live with her father at 94 Old Road, and he died there on 26 December 1943. His sister remained at the house until her own death in 1953.
See also
- CWGC: John Holland Bellamy
- Oxford Chronicle, 13 October 1916, p. 7: Obituary of J. H. Bellamy, with photograph
- Oxford Journal Illustrated, 18 October 1916, “Heroes of the War”: photograph of J. H. Bellamy of Headington, who had died two weeks earlier
- A longer description of the life of John Holland Bellamy, by Roger Bellamy (PDF)
- Wikipedia: Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire) regiment
- Wikipedia: The Battle of the Somme