Sir Edward Bellingham, 5th Baronet
Sir Edward Henry Charles Patrick Bellingham, 5th Baronet, was an Anglo-Irish soldier, politician, and diplomat.
Background and education
Bellingham was the eldest son of Sir Henry Bellingham, 4th Baronet and his wife, Lady Constance Noel, the second daughter of Charles Noel, 2nd Earl of Gainsborough. He was educated at The Oratory School and went then to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. In 1921, he succeeded his father as baronet.Career
Bellingham was commissioned into the Royal Scots regiment as a second lieutenant on 23 August 1899. He fought with his regiment in the Second Boer War and was wounded.. For his service in South Africa he was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal and the King's South Africa Medal with three clasps. During the First World War, Bellingham was wounded and mentioned in despatches three times. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1916 and promoted to Major in 1917, while serving as temporary Brigadier-General, having been appointed to command 118th Brigade on 3 February. He commanded the brigade during the Third Battle of Ypres in July–November that year. In the 1918 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George. He and his Brigade major were taken prisoner on 28 March 1918 while commanding a rearguard during the confusion of the 'Great Retreat'. After the Armistice he was promoted to Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel. He retired in 1922.Resident at Castlebellingham, County Louth, Bellingham was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Louth in 1921, a post he held for only one year until the establishment of the Irish Free State. In 1925, he was elected to the Free State Seanad Éireann with the ninth highest number of first preference votes nationwide of the 76 candidates, and he sat there until its abolition in 1936.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, Bellingham joined the Royal Air Force. He was appointed as a Flying Officer in 1941 and later was a Squadron Leader in the RAF Regiment. After the war he served in the Commission of Control in Germany until 1947. In his last years he was vice-consul at the British embassy in Guatemala.