| Description | Bellamy
DOB: 15 December 1892
DOD: 1961
Moved to School Street in January 1893.
First suit at age 2; traumatic memory of brother’s death at age 4.
Childhood incidents included a severe burn, witnessing a 6-month coal strike, and seeing Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897.
Early memories marked by economic hardship and exposure to working-class life.
Attended local school starting in 1897, advanced through the classes.
Sat entrance exam for Lewis Intermediate School; initially reported as having passed but later told only his friend had. Eventually granted a one-year scholarship.
Attended Lewis School for one year, which left a lasting impression.
Also attended evening classes later in life (mining subjects, ambulance work).
Strong advocate of education throughout his life, especially for his children.
Errand boy from age 10, then shop worker.
Became a colliery worker in 1905, discontented with shop hours.
Left pit after the 1921 strike; worked as a labourer, then promoted to storekeeper at Windsor Colliery in 1926.
Held this position with consistent income and holidays for over two decades.
Married on 21 September 1918, same day as his brother.
Wife: Agnes Maud (not named in original text but mentioned in postscript).
Two children:
Trevor Philip Bellamy (b. 1919): Grammar school, Cardiff University, served in WWII, became a teacher, pursued M.Ed.
Agnes Eluned Bellamy (b. 26 August 1923): Grammar school, trained as a teacher, married an aircraft maintenance engineer.
Became a grandparent shortly before writing.
Lifelong Baptist: Sunday school attendee from age 5, baptized before age 12.
Lay preacher (passed Baptist Union exam in 1932), often travelled to preach.
Secretary of his chapel for over 20 years.
Gardening: cultivated a plot with his wife for 23 years.
Interested in biography, radio, amateur surveying, St John’s Ambulance.
Passionate reader from boyhood, especially Wild West tales and political literature.
South Wales coal strikes (notably 1921, 1926), deep industrial hardship.
Welsh religious revivals and the Edwardian era.
Personal and political awakening through the I.L.P. in 1913.
Lived through both World Wars; supported pacifist views during WWI.
Witnessed the passing of the Victorian, Edwardian, and into the Elizabethan era.
Handwritten
New Tredegar, coal strike, Lewis School, Windsor Colliery, Welsh Revival, I.L.P., pacifism, grammar school, education, Baptist Church, gardening, St John’s Ambulance, biography, lay preacher, Caerphilly, Victorian era, working-class life. |