April 23rd , 1727
George Anne Bellamy (née O’Hara; 23 April 1731 – 16 February 1788) was an Irish actress. She took leading roles at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
Her success was rapid, participating in the rivalry for popular favor in Romeo and Juliet in 1750, playing with Garrick at Drury Lane, while Barry and Mrs. Cibber played at Covent Garden. She was thought the more charming of the Juliets. Mrs. Bellamy was popular and she was received in the best society. She forfeited her reputation by her liaisons.
Bellamy was born, by her own account, at Fingal, Ireland on St. George’s Day 1731.
“George Anne” was a name given by mistake for Georgiana. Officially George Anne Bellamy, she decided to keep this name and use it in her professional career. She was the daughter of minor actress, Mrs Bellamy, (née Seal) and James O’Hara, 2nd Baron Tyrawley, who paid for her education.
Bellamy was put out to nurse until she was two and then between ages four and eleven, she was enrolled in a convent in Boulogne.
She spent most of her childhood moving between places. When she wasn’t in school, she spent her time living with various carers and family members. She was given an annual allowance of 100l by her father on the condition that she did not see her mother, who eventually convinced her to move back in with her which caused her allowance to be withdrawn.
Despite a highly successful career, she lived a very tumultuous life, plagued by debt and misfortune. When she died, she had little money to her name and was living under the rules of the King’s bench prison in her final residence in Eliot’s Row, St George’s Fields.
Bellamy had a successful career that although began by luck, was subsequently built on talent, hard work and determination.
