Background
Bellamy was born in Oxford on 17 November 1881 to Montague Edward James Butwell Bellamy (1850–1908) and Mary Bellamy (née Castell).
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Ethel Bellamy
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She helped catalogue the position of over a million stars. She performed computations for Oxford"s contributions to the Carte du Ciel and Astrographic Catalogue projects, under the directions of the Savilian Professor of Astronomy, Herbert Hall Turner. In 1912 Turner appointed her as second assistant at the observatory, a permanent full-time post, for £50 a year.
After the completion of Oxford"s role in the Astrographic Catalogue, Turner decided to assist the Vatican Observatory, which was having difficulty with its computations.
From 1911 to 1928, Bellamy performed the reductions on the measurements and prepared the results for publication. The analysis of the Vatican"s zone was "wholly in hands".
In recognition of her work the Vatican awarded her a silver medal in 1928. However, her work on the matter was unpaid.
In 1918 Bellamy became the observatory"s seismology assistant.
She operated seismographs, managing correspondence with up to six hundred seismograph stations, and collated the data to be analysed. After Turner, or, from 1923, a new assistant called Joseph Hughes, had computed the epicentres of earthquakes, she prepared the results for publication in the International Seismological Summary (ISS). Moreover, she computed the epicentres herself for six issues during the Second World War while Hughes was serving in the armed forces.
In this post she worked in an unheated hut until 1927, which caused her discomfort in addition to her generally poor health.
In 1930, the year of Turner"s death, she became the editor of the ISS. In his memory, she voluntarily produced an index of epicentres for 1925–1935 and a map of the world showing their locations.
Ethel"s finances were helped when Cambridge University refused her uncle"s bequest so that it could be sold. Moreover Oxford awarded her an honorary Master of Arts degree. In July 1947 she retired and moved to Upwey, Dorset.
She died in Weymouth on 7 December 1960.
Membership
Bellamy was a member of the British Astronomical Association and was elected as a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1926.
