Life
1727-1788; actress; b. Fingal, Co. Dublin; illeg. dg. of Lord Tyrawley
by a Miss Seal who later married a Captain Bellamy; ed. Boulogne; believed
to have appeared as Miss Prue in Congreve’s Love for Love
(1742); played opp. Quin in Otway’s The Orphan (Covent Gdn.,
1744); successful in Dublin in 1760, failed in 1780; retired from the
sage in 1785 and issued An Apology for her Life (6 vols.
1785), usually spoken of as ‘unreliable’ and thought to be by
another hand though perhaps ghosted; pirated and published under the pseudonym
‘A Gentleman’ within the first year; a Dublin edition also appeared;
d. in poverty. ODNB DIB OCTH OCIL
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Works
Alexander Bicknell, ed., An Apology for the Life of George Ann Bellamy.
Late of Covent Garden Theatre. Written by herself. To which is annexe
her original letter to John Calcraft, Esq. advertised to be published
in October 1767, but which was then violently suppressed. 5 Vols.
(Printed for the author by the Literary Society and sold at the Logographic
Press by J. Bell 1785); Do., 2 vols. (Dublin: Moncrieffe, Burnet,
Jenkin, Wilson, Exshaw, Burton, White, Byrne, and H. Whitstone 1785); Do. [also called the 2nd edn.] Apology [ …] &c.,
5 vols. (London: J. Bell 1785); 3rd edn., 5 vols. (London: J. Bell 1785); Apology [ …] &c.] (London: May 1785), with
a supplementary volume [Vol. VI]; Do. [4th edn.], 5 vols. (London:
for the author 1786), incorporating pt. of suppl. Vol. VI; Do. [abridged
edn.], Memoirs of a celebrated actress; containing a true account of
her various amours, adventures, vicissitudes; and interspersed with curious
anecdotes of several distinguished persons (London: Champantre &
Whitrow [1785]); French trans. as Mémoires de Miss Bellamy,
célebre actrice de Londres &c, 2 vols. (Paris [1799]),
[trans. by Benoist and Lamare with preface by Thiers] ([Paris:] Ponthieu
1822); also Gentleman of Covent Garden Theatre [pseud.], Memoirs of
George Ann Bellamy, including all her intrigues; with genuine anecdotes
of all her public and private connections (London: J. Walker and J.
Debrett 1785), 204pp; Do. [another edn.] (London: Walker 1785), 202pp.;
Do. [another edn.] (London: Debrett 1785); also Edward Willett, Letters
addressed to Mrs Bellamy occasioned by her Apology. (J Rozea [1785])
[replying to her accusation of the solicitor of Woodward regarding a the
actor’s legacy.] (See Michael Arnott, Theatrical Literature, 1970.)
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Commentary
O’Keeffe, Recollections (1825), Vol. I, p.107, ‘The
acting of Mrs. Bellamy gave me great delight, she was very beautiful,
blue eyes, and very fair ... Garrick being a little man, and Mrs. Bellamy
not very tall, he preferred her, for his heroine, to Mrs. Yates or Mrs.
Pritchard.’
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References
Esther Sheldon, Thomas Sheridan (NJ: Princeton UP 1967): Mrs
Bellamy, George Anne’s mother, acted at Aungier St. opening in 1734
(Chetwood), and had appeared at Smock Alley as early as 1729. (Thomas
Sheridan, ftn. 58). In 1745, Sheridan engaged George Anne Bellamy
to play principal characters, supplanting Mrs. Furnival, having ingratiated
herself with Quin and Rich enough to appear in seven difference roles
(in The Orphan, The Maid’s Tragedy, Cato, Volpone,
etc.). Three seasons at Smock Alley (p. 124) terminate with her retirement
on apparent injury over tickets she issued to friend: ‘in the first
place, I could not forgive his making me pay for the orders I had issued
during my being with him in Ireland.’ In fact, she was anxious to
take up her offer at Garrick’s Drury Lane. See also Jane Dunbar, Peg Woffington (1965), which retells the story of Bellamy’s
origins, her assault on Rich and her subsequent rivalry with Woffington.
Sir John Gilbert, History of Dublin (1854), Vol. II, p.81, 82, 86; Mrs Bellamy, actress, quoted as source in several works on Irish drama of the 18th c.; ALSO in 1733, New Smock Alley at Aungier St., arch. Edward Lovet Pearce, opens with Farquhar’s The Recruiting Officer, acting, 3 Elringtons and Mrs. Bellamy.
Michael Arnott, Theatrical Literature (1970), calls here a noted actress whose private history is of a rather sensational order (citing Lowe); bibl. [?] Harman, Enchanting Bellamy (1956).Works incl. An Apology for the life of George Ann Bellamy. Late of Covent Garden Theatre. Written by herself. To which is annexe her original letter to John Calcraft, Esq. advertised to be published in October 1767, but which was then violently suppressed. In five volumes. [pagination circa 215pp. per vol, and index in last vol.]. Edited by Alexander Bicknell, printed for the author by the Literary Soc. and sold at the Logographic Press by J. Bell (1785); Apology &c., 2nd ed., 2 vols. (Dublin: Moncrieffe, Burnet, Jenkin, Wilson, Exshaw, Burton, White, Byrne, and H Whitstone 1785); Apology &c., 2nd ed., 5 vols. (J. Bell 1785); Apology &c., 3rd ed., 5 vols. (J. Bell 1785); Apology &c., being a supplementary volume with same title page add. ‘to the fifth volume of which is annexed ... in six vols, Vol. VI’, c.190pp (May 1785); 4th ed. 5 vols. (For the author 1786), incorporating pt. of suppl. vol. VI; also abridged ed., Memoirs of a celebrated actress; containing a true account of her various amours, adventures, vicissitudes; and interspersed with curious anecdotes of several distinguished persons (Champantre & Whitrow [1785]); French eds., Mémoires de Miss Bellamy, célebre actrice de Londres &c, 2 vols. [details of trans. by Benoist and Lamare, and preface by Thiers] (Paris [1799]; Ponthieu 1822); also Gentleman of Covent Garden Theatre [pseud.], Memoirs of George Ann Bellamy, including all her intrigues; with genuine anecdotes of all her public and private connections (J Walker and J Debrett 1785), 204pp; Memoirs, another ed. (Walker 1785), 202pp.; Memoirs, another ed. (Debrett 1785); and Edward Willett, Letters addressed to Mrs Bellamy occasioned by her Apology. By Edward Willett (J Rozea [1785]) [replying to her accusation of the solicitor of Woodward regarding a the actor’s legacy]
A. N. Jeffares & Anthony Kamm, eds., An Irish Childhood, An Anthology (London: Collins 1987), incls. extract from An Apology for her Life (1785), selects extract entitled ‘The Faithful Nurse’.
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