Hazel Bellamy
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Hazel Patricia Bellamy (née Forrest, previously O'Connell; c.May 1886–8 November 1918) was a fictional character in the ITV drama Upstairs, Downstairs. She was portrayed by Meg Wynn Owen.
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[edit] Early life
Hazel Forrest grew up in middle-class Putney, the daughter of a clerk, and in the spring of 1902 she married, in Newcastle, a postal clerk called Patrick O'Connell. They lived in Newcastle, and O'Connell quickly became an alcoholic and started having affairs. He also attacked her, and eventually an isolated Hazel left him and returned to her parents. A divorce was arranged, and in 1904 the family moved to Wimbledon because of the shame of a divorce. Hazel then, using her maiden name, got a typewriter and became a secretary.
[edit] Marriage to James
In March 1912, Hazel Forrest got work as Richard's typist, as he was writing a biography of his late father-in-law Lord Southwold. In the April of 1912, a bored James insisted on Hazel have lunch with him the Dining Room. They soon started courting, to the disapproval of his parents. Following Lady Marjorie's death onboard on Titanic in April 1912, Hazel was a comfort to James. She also impressed and gained the respect of the servants in how she treated with a hysterical Miss Roberts.
When James asked her to marry him, while she said she loved him, she refused to marry. Soon after, Hazel's father Arthur Forrest, came round and told James all about Hazel's first marriage. Within days, James went round to see Hazel and, after some talking, she agreed to marry him. The two wed at Southwold and honeymooned in Paris. They then moved into Eaton Place with Richard. Hazel took Lady Marjorie's place as mistress of the house and James became the master of the house.
[edit] Married life
The midde-class Hazel had problems adapting to the upper-class world that James lived in. On a hunting weekend to Somerby, Lord Newbury's country house, the other guests encouraged her to surprise James and join the hunt, something she had never done before. However, Diana Newbury had secretly swapped the horses and given Hazel a horse that jolted and ran away with Hazel, who escaped largely uninjured. She and James then had an argument, as he felt humilated. This, on top of Major Cochrane-Danby saying James and Diana were sleeping togeather, led Hazel to flee Somerby with Rose. James followed her back to London when he found out she'd gone, and they soon made up.
Hazel suffered a miscarriage in May/June 1914, and their marriage begun faltering after that. She said she would have left the house had it not been for Richard, who admitted to having a "natural affection" for her, and Georgina. However, the war meant that James, a former serving officer in the Life Guards, was drafted up before the war had even officially started and this parting seem to bring them closer togeather.
[edit] War years
Following James going to the Front, Hazel took complete control of the household. She also got involved in many committees and at one committee, she was persuaded, partly by Lady Prudence, to house a family of Belgian refugees. Hazel also did volunteer work at a canteen at Charing Cross. At a tea party for wounded officers in 1916, she met a pilot called Jack Dyson, who like her was born into the middle class. They went out several times, and kissed passionatley. However, Dyson was soon sent back to active service and was killed at the Battle of the Somme later that year.
In 1917, her father-in-law was created Viscount Bellamy of Haversham, and thus she became The Honourable Mrs. James Bellamy. In October 1917, James was reported missing in action and was presumed killed. Hazel lost hope, but Richard kept her spirits up. After ten days James turned up in a hospital, where Georgina was a nurse, in France. He was alive but seriously wounded, and Hazel insisted on bringing him home straight away, despite Georgina's objections. In November 1918, Hazel fell ill with a deadly string of influenza which had become an pandemic. She died in her sleep on 8 November, aged 32, in her bedroom at Eaton Place. She was buried on 11 November, the day the War ended, in St. Mark's Church, Wimbledon. James never remarried and committed suicide in 1929. He was buried next to Hazel.
[edit] References
- Transcript of a story by Alfred Shaughnessy published in Woman magazine, 1975 [1]
