Simon Williams as Captain (later Major) James Bellamy
MAJOR JAMES BELLAMY was a character in the 1970s UK period drama, Upstairs, Downstairs. He was played by UK actor Simon Williams.
James is the oldest of the two children of Richard Bellamy and his first wife, Lady Marjorie Bellamy. He was overly favored by his mother, while his younger sister, Elizabeth Bellamy was favored by his father. He was introduced in the episode entitled Board Wages, when he first meets Sarah Moffat, the under house parlor maid. He falls in love with her, and they have an affair.
From their affair, Sarah gives birth to a child, a boy, who dies, in the episode Guest of Honour. After a time, James helps get her set up as a music hall performer. James has a tendency to fall in love with women who are not from the same class he was. When he was first introduced he was a member of the Household Calvary with the rank of Captain.
His recklessness was the despair of his family, and it also brought dismay to the downstairs staff. He often would antagonize Angus Hudson, the family butler. His closest friend was a man named Lord Bunny Newbury and his first girlfriend was Lady Diana Russell, who later married Bunny.
In the third series (season), he meets Hazel Patricia Forrest, who had been hired as his father's secretary, charged with helping him write the autobiography of James' maternal grandfather, Lord Southwold, who had recently died.
He falls in love with her, and in an effort to show off to her, he insists on having lunch at home after he had told Hudson that he was planning on eating away from home. Making matters worse was the fact he ordered Hudson to bring a specific Claret wine which was not to be drank at luncheon. This caused Hudson to almost leave the Bellamy's employ, but he later realizes that he was wrong and Hudson rescinds his resignation.
James and Hazel eventually marry, but it doesn't last, as a result of their differences in class, the fact that the servants do not really accept her as the lady of the house and the miscarriage of their child. In 1918, Hazel dies, and as a result of this, he does not remarry.
He also had affairs with his former childhood sweetheart, Lady Diana Newbury, but it ends after she tells him that he was no longer the man she knew him to be. Twice during the course of the series, he sees military action. The first time, when he is sent to India after his dalliance with Sarah is revealed; then during World War I, where he is injured and is brought back to London. He also has an affair with his new step-cousin, Lady Georgina Worsley. He becomes close to his father's second wife, Virginia Hamilton Bellamy.
He becomes extremely wealthy during his time in America, whilst visiting his sister, Elizabeth. When Rose Buck asks him to help invest her nest egg she received from her dead fiancé, it, along with his investments, are wiped out in the crash of 1929.
After finding out about the loss of his money, he leaves Eaton Place and goes to a motel in Maidenhead, where he commits suicide. Georgina is left his entire estate, which was sadly comprised of mainly debt, from the loans he had lent to his friends.