Concordia Magazine 2025

Revd James Bellamy: British (English) School

of the painting was recently reviewed under UV light, showing the sitter’s name and date. Even though this portrait was not signed, we now know that it was painted from life while Bishop was Head Master at Merchant Taylors’ in 1790. The portrait of the Revd James Wm. Bellamy BD (HM 1819–45) in the Exam Hall is also not attributed to an artist and, like Bishop’s portrait, a print of the painting exists in the Archive. This print states that it is a copy of a painting by J. Irvine (possibly the portraitist James Irvine), but a firm attribution to Irvine has not been made. 9 Bellamy was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1834. In this portrait in the Exam Hall he is wearing a cassock and bands; it is a striking portrait and research will continue to try and identify its artist.

The two earliest portraits in the Exam Hall are of Head Masters, Revd Samuel Bishop (HM 1783–95) and Revd James William Bellamy (HM 1819–45), and both have a loose attribution of ‘British (English) School’. A similar portrait of Revd Bishop to the one in the Exam Hall is in the School Archive in printed form; an engraving by H. Thielcke (1788–1874) of a work by ‘Clarkson’, it is said to be from the collection of ‘Miss Bishop’. Revd Bishop joined the School in 1743, returned in 1758 as third under-master and by 1783 was elected Head Master. With his wife and daughter Mary, he lived next to the School’s premises at Suffolk Lane. As he spent about 44 years as a pupil or teacher at Merchant Taylors’, it is quite probable that his daughter, or her descendants, gave this portrait to the School. A worn-out label on the back

Concordia Winter 2025 25

Revd Samuel Bishop: British (English) School