Eadith Kingsford was the only child of Anna Kingsford. The fact that she married has not been published before. Her marriage certificate shows she was married on 25 October 1915 at The Parish Church, Brighton. Her age on the certificate is given as 31, although she was really 47. (Eadith was born 24 September 1868 at St Leonards on Sea.) Her residence at the time of marriage was the Old Ship Hotel at Brighton.(Parts of this hotel were built in 1559 and it  still stands in the centre of Brighton on the promenade.)

Eadith's husband is given as Howard Richard Clayton Bellamy, aged 22 and a "bachelor." He was a 2nd Lieut. in the 11th Royal Scots. His residence was Ramelloun (?) House, Tain, Scotland. His father is given as George Bumpus Bellamy, a "gentleman." The witnesses were Walter Nunn and Frederick Harris.

Bonus family archives don't name Bellamy, but tell that he was already married with children, and when Eadith found out they separated and she took no legal action. He was later killed in action. His name has not been found on the military lists, so possibly he married under an assumed name. On Ancestry.co.uk I have found that a George Bumpus Bellamy lived from 1832 to 1904.It is doubtful that one could think up such an unusual name. On the marriage certificate, after Eadith's father's name (Algernon Godfrey Burton), appear the letters "dec." for deceased. No such letters appear after George Bumpus Bellamy. It seems unlikely there were two men of this name.

In the absence of factual evidence, one can only speculate about the reasons for this marriage.My thoughts on the matter are as follows. The 11th Royal Scots fought in the Battle of Loos, which ended in British defeat around 13 October 1915. It was an all round massacre, with 50-60,000 thousand Allies dead, and an estimated 100,000 Germans dead.The 11th Royal Scots suffered severe losses, with many gassed.Presuming Bellamy fought with his regiment at Loos, he could have suffered from shell shock.This condition has been examined by Peter Leese in Shell Shock: Traumatic Neurosis and the British Soldiers of the First World War (2002).A range of symptons could be experienced, such as amnesia, paralysis, stammering, uncontollable twitches,continual headaches, depression, insomnia, nightmares and vertigo.

Shell shock was an embarrassment for the military, and only grudgingly acknowledged. Generally speaking, officers were given better treatment than ordinary soldiers.Less severve cases were often not treated.Whatever condition Bellamy was in, shortly after the battle he was in Brighton where he met Eadith.We could a rapport was established between them. At 47 Eadith must have just about given up hope of a husband, and here was her last chance. Possibly Bellamy had amnesia and could not remember his family. In A War of Nerves (2001) Ben Shephard mentions that some shell shock sufferers regressed to a childlike state of helpnessness and dependency.Eadith may have taken advantage of such a condition in Bellamy.

In Rebecca West's novel The Return of the Soldier, Chris Baldry, a shell shocked soldier, returns to England with amnesia and can't recognise his wife. Rather than resuming his marriage, he joins Margaret, whom he loved before he met his wife to be. At the end of the novel there is a hint that he has recovered his memory and will return to the war, but we are not told what happens to him. A fair number of soldiers returned to the war and, like Eadth's Bellamy, and were killed second time around.

It would be fascinating to have the full story on the human drama that took place between Eadith and Bellamy.Both parties played their role in a tragedy.In her will Eadith said she wrote a book called "Desolation," which could throw some light on the subject if it could only be located. Eadith willed it to the Society of Psychic Research, but there is no record of it being received.