Samuel Bellamy (footballer)

Samuel Charles Bellamy (2 November 1913 – 4 June 2005) was an English professional footballer who played as a full back in the Football League for Birmingham.[3]

Samuel Bellamy
Personal information
Full name Samuel Charles Bellamy
Date of birth (1913-11-02)2 November 1913
Place of birth Small Heath, Birmingham, England
Date of death 4 June 2005(2005-06-04) (aged 91)[1]
Place of death Solihull, England
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[2]
Position(s) Full back
Youth career
St Andrew's OSL
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1937–1947 Birmingham 1 (0)
1947–1951 Tamworth
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Life and career

Bellamy was born in 1913 in the Small Heath district of Birmingham,[4] the son of Samuel Bellamy, a labourer, and his wife, Eliza née Kempson.[5][6] A full back, he played youth football for St Andrew's OSL before moving into adult local football. By 1936, he had played as an amateur for Birmingham's third team as well as having trials with Aston Villa. He answered Birmingham Combination club Tamworth's advertisement for players, and got through to the final trial,[7] but chose to continue on Birmingham's books as an amateur, "figured with considerable success in the third team" during the 1936–37 season, and was signed as a professional.[8]

He made his first senior competitive appearance for the club on 13 November 1937, deputising for the injured Cyril Trigg against Blackpool in the First Division. Birmingham won 3–0, which was their first away win of the season.[9] He was retained for the 1938–39 season,[10] and was a regular in the reserve team in the Central League, mainly at left back; in the last match of the season, he suffered a concussion and was taken to hospital.[11] He made no more first-team appearances before the Football League was suspended for the duration of the Second World War.[12][4]

When war broke out, Bellamy was a single man living with his parents and three younger siblings in Graham Road, Yardley. He worked for Revo Electric, manufacturers of domestic equipment, as an assembler.[13] He played football for Revo's works team,[14] as well as appearing occasionally for Birmingham in the various wartime competitions,[15] before joining the Army in 1940.[16] He spent time serving in the Middle East.[17] Bellamy rejoined Birmingham after the war, appeared for their Central League team, and was given a free transfer at the end of the 1946–47 season.[18]

He signed for Tamworth[4] – eleven years after his trial with the club – and was a first-team regular for three seasons.[19] However, a knee injury in April 1950 and another injury early in the following season, by which time he was 37 years old, hastened the end of his senior career.[20]

Bellamy died in Solihull in 2005 at the age of 91.[21][22]

References
  1. "Bellamy 2005". UK Probate Service. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  2. "Roll call at St. Andrew's". Birmingham Gazette. 29 July 1937. p. 13.
  3. Joyce (2004), p. 23.
  4. Matthews (1995), p. 72.
  5. "Birmingham, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754–1937 for Samuel Bellamy: Deritend, St Gabriel: 1912–1936". EP2/2/3/8; Archive Roll: M155 – via Ancestry Library Edition.
  6. "Index entry". FreeBMD. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  7. "Tamworth's team for Redditch". Tamworth Herald. 2 May 1936. p. 12.
    "Tamworth's final trial". Tamworth Herald. 29 August 1936. p. 2.
  8. "Birmingham sign on thirty amateurs". Daily Mirror. London. 10 August 1937. p. 27.
  9. Matthews (1995), p. 180.
  10. "Fillingham and Stokes not on Blues' retained list". Birmingham Gazette. 5 May 1938. p. 12.
  11. "Blues' back in hospital". Sports Argus. Birmingham. 6 May 1939. p. 10.
  12. "Transfer list". Evening Despatch. Birmingham. 20 April 1939. p. 11.
  13. "1939 England and Wales Register for Samuel C Bellamy". 1939 Register. RG 101/5555J QBEJ 384/8 – via Ancestry Library Edition.
  14. "Revo unchanged". Birmingham Gazette. 15 December 1939. p. 7.
  15. Matthews (1995), pp. 236–37.
  16. "Blues v. Albion". Evening Despatch. Birmingham. 27 May 1940. p. 6. Sam Bellamy, the Birmingham back, has enlisted and is now serving in the Army.
  17. "It's a small world for brothers in arms". Evening Despatch. Birmingham. 2 August 1943. p. 3.
  18. "Birmingham's soccer surprise". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 21 April 1947. p. 14.
  19. "Bedworth at the Lamb". Tamworth Herald. 15 November 1947. p. 6.
    "Hinckley at the Lamb, Tamworth hope to be at full strength". Tamworth Herald. 4 September 1948. p. 6.
    "Tamworth at full strength for Darlaston game". Tamworth Herald. 26 November 1949. p. 8.
  20. "Tamworth's nine men put up a game fight". Tamworth Herald. 1 April 1950. p. 8. Tamworth had Sam Bellamy injured in the first twenty minutes. He twisted his knee in racing across, goal to make an interception and tackling the Moor Green centre-forward, and for the rest of the first half hobbled painfully along the left wing.
    "Tamworth are off to a fine start". Tamworth Herald. 2 September 1950. p. 8. Their defence, without Sam Bellamy and Paddy O'Mahony, who were both injured in the opening game with Bedworth, has held firm in the second and third games.
    "Tamworth make sweeping changes". Tamworth Herald. 21 October 1950. p. 8. Harold Pegg takes over the right full-back position from Sam Bellamy
  21. "Samuel Charles Bellamy". England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837–2007. 0731B. Retrieved 21 August 2020 – via FamilySearch.
  22. "Player search: Bellamy, SC (Samuel)". English National Football Archive. Retrieved 28 March 2020.

Sources
  • Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  • Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
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