The New International Encyclopædia/Bellamy, George Anne

BELLAMY, George Anne (c.1731-88). An English actress. She was born, by her own account, at Fingal, Ireland. ‘George Anne’ was a name given by mistake for Georgiana. She was the illegitimate daughter of Lord Tyrawley, and was educated by him. Choosing, however, to live with her mother, she made the acquaintance of Mrs. Woffington and other actors, and was engaged at Covent Garden to play Monimia in The Orphan (November, 1744). Her success thereafter was rapid. Her Belvidera, in Venice Preserved, and her Desdemona were much admired. She participated 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 extremely popular, and until she forfeited her character by her various liaisons, was received in the best society. She lost her beauty early, and her later life was unhappy, apparently through her own extravagance and reckless habits. Her last appearance was at Drury Lane May 24, 1785, in a benefit to herself, in which she was unable to act, but spoke a short address to the spectators. Consult: In Apology for the Life of George Anne Bellamy, late of Covent Garden Theatre, Written by Herself, 6 vols. (London, 1785); Matthew's and Hutton, Actors and Actresses of Great Britain and the United States (New York, 1886); and Galt, Lives of the Players (London, 1831).