# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Bellamy, James

​BELLAMY, JAMES (1819–1909), President of St. John's College, Oxford, born on 31 Jan. 1819 in the school house of Merchant Taylors' School, then in Suffolk Lane, was elder son in the family of two sons and three daughters of James William Bellamy, B.D. The father (of an old Huguenot family settled in Norfolk and Lincolnshire) was headmaster of Merchant Taylors' School from 1819 to 1845. His mother was Mary, daughter of Thomas Cherry, B.D., headmaster of Merchant Taylors' School, London, from 1795 to 1819. In 1822 the father, while still headmaster, became vicar of Sellinge, Kent, a living which he held till his death in 1874. The son James entered Merchant Taylors' School in June 1826. 'The Merchant Taylors' Magazine' 1833-4 contains three poems by him. On 11 June 1836 he was elected scholar (leading to a fellowship) at St. John's College, Oxford, matriculating on 27 June. In 1841 Bellamy graduated B.A., with a second class in classics and a first class in mathematics. He proceeded M.A. in 1845, B.D. in 1850, and D.D. in 1872 ; was ordained deacon in 1842 and priest in 1843, and settled down to the ordinary life of a college 'don.' He held the college offices in turn, made a very efficient bursar in his year of office, was a successful tutor (but had no belief in supplying his pupils with knowledge ready made), and until 1871 was precentor, with charge of the choristers, the college having a foundation for choral service [see Paddy, Sir William]. He was a keen and capable musician, a devoted admirer of Handel, and a friend of John Hullah [q. v.] and other musicians. His fine collection of music was given in trust, after his death, by his sister, Mrs. Tylden, to form the nucleus of an historical library of music in Oxford.
Bellamy took a prominent part from the first in the general life of Oxford. He was librarian of the Union Society in 1841, and became an important member of the conservative party in the university. Without professing full sympathy with the tractarians, he was an admirer of J. H. Newman, whose sermons at St. Mary's he attended, and was intimate with Charles Marriott, Dr. Pusey, and their friends, and he supported them by his vote in congregation. He was in later years regarded as Dr. Pusey's adviser in academic matters. He examined for the university, and occasionally took private pupils. One of these was Robert Gascoyne Cecil, afterwards Marquis of Salisbury [q. v. Suppl. II], with whom he remained on cordial terms till his death. During the vacations he occasionally visited Germany, where he studied music, but his home was with his father in Kent.
Shortly before the death, on 4 Nov. 1871, of Dr. Wynter, the President of St. John's, he accepted the college living of Crick, Northamptonshire ; but he never entered upon the duties, being elected President of his college on 7 Dec. 1871. In that capacity he actively controlled its business for over thirty years. Serious financial embarrassments from time to time threatened its prosperity, but his coolness helped to surmount the difficulties. When in 1888 it was necessary to reduce the emoluments of all members of the foundation by 22 per cent., Bellamy made good the deficiency, out of his own purse, to all the open scholars of the college, and, in conjunction with the Merchant Taylors' Company, to those from Merchant Taylors' School. This benefaction was continued until the need ceased.
With the Merchant Taylors' Company the old-standing relations of the college were especially cordial during Bellamy's presidentship. He delighted in his annual visit to the school on 'Election Day' (11 June), and at the dinner with the company in the evening he always spoke both thoughtfully and wittily. On 25 June 1894 the court bestowed on him the honorary freedom of the company. He was admitted on 14 July.
Meanwhile at Oxford Bellamy won an influential position, mainly due to his determined and straightforward character, his capacity for business, and his entire absence of self-assertion and self-seeking. He was a member of the university commission 1877-9, and a constant attendant at its sessions, criticising the proposed reforms with acuteness, and presenting a bold front to any change which he regarded as revolutionary in the statutes either of his own college or of the university. A scheme presented by the college in December 1877, which proposed to retain the clerical restriction for the presidentship and for one-third of the fellowships, was rejected, but the connection made by Sir Thomas White [q. v.], 1555, with certain schools, was retained. From 1874 till 1907 Bellamy was a ​member of the hebdomadal council. From 1886 to 1890 he was vice-chancellor in succession to Benjamin Jowett, whom he had known from childhood but with whom he disagreed on almost every subject. In both positions he exercised sound judgment, clearly and trenchantly expressed. From 1895 to 1907 he held the sinecure rectory of Leckford, Hampshire, paying the income into the college funds. For many years he was leader of the conservative political party in Oxford, and meetings at the times of contested elections were held in his house. Till extreme old age, Bellamy retained his powers. An admirable raconteur, with a great fund of reminiscence, he was a genial host, and a pointed speaker at college gatherings, whose sharp criticism and wit were never tinged with ill-nature. Up to his ninetieth year he sang the service in the college chapel on stated days, in perfect tune and with remarkable power of voice. Failing health led him to resign the presidentship on 24 June 1909. Retiring to Ingoldisthorpe Manor, the Norfolk property which he had inherited from an uncle, and where he had proved himself an admirable landlord, he died there on 25 Aug. 1909. He was buried in the churchyard adjoining his garden. His estate was sworn at over 300,000l. His portrait, painted by Frank Holl, R.A., presented in 1887, is in the hall of St. John's College, Oxford, and a drawing by W. Strang, A.R.A., executed in 1907, is in the common room. A mural tablet is in the college chapel.
[W. H. Hutton, History of St. John Baptist College; The Times, 28 'August 1909; Court Minutes of the Merchant Taylors' Company; Register of St. John's College, Oxford; private information.]
W. H. H.