Gerald Hamilton
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Gerald Bernard Francis Hamilton (1 November 1890 – 9 June 1970) was a British memoirist, critic and internationalist known as "the wickedest man in Europe".
Early life
Born Gerald Frank Hamilton Souter in
World War I
Hamilton was interned in the United Kingdom during the
Sales representative, informer, and prisoner
Hamilton was employed at various times by The Times as its German sales representative. He was known as a fixer for Willi Münzenberg, "the notorious communist, who presided in Berlin on behalf of Moscow over the doings of the League Against Imperialism and Friends of Soviet Russia" (as British Intelligence described him), and as a go-between or informer by various agencies, including Sinn Féin, Special Branch, and the British Military Mission in Berlin. At one time, he shared accommodation with "the Great Beast", Aleister Crowley.[1] Hamilton served prison sentences for bankruptcy, theft, gross indecency and being a threat to national security.[6]
Memoirs
Hamilton served as the model for Isherwood's character Arthur Norris in his novel Mr Norris Changes Trains (1935) (published in the U.S. as The Last of Mr Norris). Hamilton derived from this the title for his own memoir Mr Norris and I (published in 1956). An earlier memoir by Hamilton, As Young as Sophocles, was published in 1937, and a third memoir, The Way It Was with Me was published in 1969, all three books giving wholly different versions of even the most basic biographical information. Other accounts of Hamilton's life provide further obfuscation; Robin Maugham's five-part "exposé" in The People was in fact concocted in collusion with Hamilton, while John Symonds's Conversations with Gerald (1974) allowed Hamilton to spin yet more yarns.[7]
Life in Berkshire
In 1940, Hamilton became the lover of jazz bandleader Ken "Snakehips" Johnson, who was 20 years his junior. They moved in together at 91 Kinnerton Street in Belgravia and later bought a cottage called "Little Basing" in Vicarage Road, Bray, Berkshire, where Johnson could go sailing, which was one of his hobbies.[8]
Hamilton was at that cottage when he received a phone call on 9 March 1941, informing him of Johnson's death in a
Marriages of convenience
In addition, he had a picture of "My wife", Suzanne 'Suzy' Renou, a close friend whom he had wed in a marriage of convenience at Chelsea Register Office on 29 April 1933 for a payment of £20,000.[8][4] Renou was the daughter of Alphonse Renou, a company director. Hamilton had previously been married and divorced from Diana Parker, daughter of Captain Alfred Parker. This was also a paid marriage of convenience, and took place on 31 August 1929 at St Jude's Church, Kensington.[4]
Far-right supporter
In the
Historical works
His other books include Emma in Blue, about Lady
Old age
Hamilton's latter days saw him living in a
Death
Hamilton died on 9 June 1970, aged 79, in
In popular culture
Later in his life, Hamilton became friends with
Works
- As Young as Sophocles, Secker & Warburg, 1937
- Mr Norris and I, Allan Wingate, 1956
- The Way it Was With Me, Leslie Frewin, London, 1969, ISBN 0-09-096560-4
- Jacaranda, Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1961
- Emma in Blue, Allan Wingate, 1957
- Blood Royal, Times Publishing/Anthony Gibbs & Phillips, 1964
Further reading
- Cullen, Tom. The Man Who Was Norris: The life of Gerald Hamilton. Daedalus, 2014; ISBN 9781909232433
- Page, Norman. Auden and Isherwood: the Berlin Years. Palgrave Macmillan, 2000.
- Symonds, John. Conversations with Gerald, Duckworth, 1974; ISBN 0-7156-0815-0
- Bureau of Military History
External links
References
- ^ a b c The Man Who Was Norris: The life of Gerald Hamilton, Tom Cullen, Daedalus, 2014.
- ^ The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Shanghai, baptism register number 180, 1 January 1891. Source: microfilm, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- ^ Phil Baker, ‘Hamilton, Gerald Francis Bernard (1890–1970)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, May 2013; online edn, Sept 2013 accessed 26 Dec 2013
- ^ required.)
- ^ Daily Telegraph, 24 October 1974.
- ^ Review of The Man Who Was Norris, The Spectator. Retrieved 14 December 201.
- ^ Review, The Spectator. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
- ^ ISBN 9781786732156.
- ISBN 9781909232433.
- ^ ISBN 0-7156-0815-0
- ^ "Christopher and His Kind", BFI. Retrieved 6 June 2021