Sat 2 Jun 2007
ZENO, a/k/a Gerald Lamarque a/k/a Kenneth Allerton – An Update.
Posted by Steve under Authors[16] Comments
Hi Steve,
I think you will have to redo your Zeno article. I have now received a copy of the article [I previously mentioned to you] telling the story of Zeno/Lamarque/Allerton — and what a story.
The guy was well, the great runner, with fingers in many pies and friends/contacts in all sorts of places… Disappearing was his way of avoiding problems, and disappear he often did. He disappeared from school aged about 15 with money he had stolen. And that was the start.
Anyway, to tell a long story quickly. He was born Gerald Theodore Lamarque in 1920 as I told you. After various disappearing acts, he joined the army (in 1939?). But went AWOL just before the war started. Then he signed up — as Kenneth Sidney Allerton, the name of a boyhood friend.
He seems to have kept this name for most of the rest of his life — he even married with the name (the children from his first marriage are called Allerton) — and was still Allerton when he died (which the real K S Allerton, still alive, was shocked to learn). Though the truth was eventually revealed and he was buried as Lamarque, though in an unmarked grave somewhere in London.
The article is full of incidents involving him, though truth behind them is uncertain. Apparently he even burnt his home down ‘to hide his past.’ It seems that he had connections with the high and mighty, and the dubious (like being found arguing with a group of Irish speaking men in the middle of the night — apparently something to do with over a hundred pigs which had appeared in his garden!).
The murder is interesting. Apparently he ran off with the wife of a friend, who then left him. He eventually came across her in Swansea and murdered her new lover, Eric Batty. Described as ‘a crime of passion,’ the crime was a sensation in the Swansea area and the trial set records — lasted all of two minutes! He ended up in Wormwood Scrubs, when he made his appearance in the literary world as Zeno (after the Greek philosopher).
After prison he married a prison visitor and they went to Malta where they had three children, before being kicked off the island when his past as a murderer was revealed.
Hope that gives you a flavour of the man, and explains the mystery surrounding his name.
John
June 9th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Hello
I am the author of “Zeno – Solving a 30-year-old literary mystery.”
I spent some time researching the story (and I’m really rather proud of it).
I wonder if you could amend the lack of acknowledgment for the information used, and indeed visit my own blog which gives a fuller account of it, with pictures.
Thanks
Sincerely
Jon Paul Morgan
[thebigretort.blogspot.com]
>> Jon, Acknowledge your work? By all means. You did a great job in digging out the truth about this fellow, and as John says, what a story it was. I’ll set up a separate blog entry right now and give you all the credit. Best, Steve
June 9th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
[...] Jon Paul Morgan, the author of the article on “Zeno,” where most of the information in the previous blog entry on the pseudonymous author and convicted killer was taken, has his own blog site where you can read the piece in its entirety. [...]
June 6th, 2009 at 1:48 am
I knew Gerald reasonably well for a number of years before he died. He was Gerald La Marque when he died, and had been to his friends for years before; none of the ‘mystery’ or events described by Jon Paul Morgan were kept secret in any sense from those who knew him well.
There was some secrecy about authorship so far as the outside world was concerned, but that was to do with the terms of his release, and his continuing to use the pseudonym ‘Zeno’ which had been adopted while a prisoner who could not be identified by name.
So far as I and others were concerned he was a man who had lived a, perhaps unnecessarily, messy life but was a decent human being and a good friend.
August 7th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
You didnt do quite enough research, I have my fathers name and it wasnt hidden until his death, my brothers and I are all Lamarque
September 5th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Could you tell me where he lived with the boyhood friend as my father was also KSA, and was born in the same year.
September 7th, 2009 at 6:04 am
Sorry , just read the blog, and it was my fathers name he ‘borrowed’.
September 9th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
I was a friend of Gerald Lamarque from 1973 until his death, he came to my wedding. We drank daily in a pub in Camden Passage, Islington called ‘The Shakespeare’ (now defunct). We were all intrigued by his stories, but wondered about many of them: he said he ran away at 16 and fought in the Spanish Civil War, he said he joined the army after Munich in 1938, that he parachuted into Arnhem (probably true as the stories were consistent), then was sent to India and commissioned as an officer, reaching the rank of major. He intimated that he won the MM or MC (depending on whether he was an officer at the time). He said his brother was a British fascist in the 1930s, but then became a Battle of Britain fighter pilot. He said he became a pig farmer in Kent after the war and took his pigs to market in a vintage Rolls Royce. He said he sent his son to King’s School Canterbury, but when we met the son after Gerald’s death he was obviously not public school educated. some of Gerald’s stories varied and he got very angry if you said, “But last time you said…”. Gerald had luscious old-fashioned mustachios like Kitchener or a Cretan shepherd, and always dressed like a gentleman: tweed coats etc. Gerald gave us another name that he had been known by: Valentine Dillon, and the name Kenneth Allerton was never mentioned, he was always known openly to everyone as Gerald Lamarque. He said once of the murder that the man didn’t deserve to live and even the police said he’d done a good deed.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Thanks, Erik. I think that it’s clear by now that Gerald Lamarque was a man of many dimensions, a fellow with many facets to his life!
— Steve
September 10th, 2009 at 11:22 am
There is a title missing from your list. It’s a book of short stories in which he contributed a lengthy story: ‘Winter’s Tales 10’ edited by A.D. Maclean, pub. by MacMillan 1964. The story is called’ Suspense of Judgement’ and is the supposed true story of how he jumped from an aeroplane on a training exercise over Lincolnshire in the war and his parachute got caught on the wing and no one knew he was there, and he was dragged along for miles and was the only man ever to survive such an accident. The book is rare, and even Zeno didn’t have a copy. All his friend’s searched for it for years, then a copy turned up for £1.50 on a second-hand bookstall.
September 12th, 2009 at 9:25 am
contrary to my saying that Winter’s Tales 10 is a rare book, two copies have turned up on ABE books for a couple of quid each with dustjackets. To any Zeno fan I suggest you snap one up! It really is a scarce book.
November 25th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
In response, or to add to Eric’s account of Gerald. I became a friend of his when he moved with his wife and three very young children to Malta. He lived in a lovely Villa near the Marina of Ta’Xbiex. On one ocassion I asked him bluntly why he had killed the man and he replied that the world was a better place without him. As simple as that. He told me that he strangled him (commando training) and immediately called the police who naturally arrested him. This was a premeditated murder and he was fully aware of the consequences. I believe he was released after 9 years for good behaviour and the fact that he had a great deal of public support which included the police who had been unable to nail the murdered man who was well known for his cruelty. Gerry one day called me up, cracked open a bottle of champagne, and told me that his Villa had just been ransacked by the Maltese police who accused him of drug possession. This was a pretext to get him and his family off the Island. This was during Prime Minister Mintoff’s first few years in power when he was hell bent on getting all Brits off the Island. Gerry was deeply concerned that had the Maltese police made a report to the UK police he would have immediately been re-arrested and would have to serve the rest of his life sentence. Luckily a friend of mine was the son of the first Maltese born Governor and was able to secure a guarantee from the Commissioner of Police that no charge had been lodged or would be placed. However, Gerry and family were forced to leave within 48 hours. I unfortunately lost contact with him. A charming, brave man and great fun.
Michael
February 6th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
Dear Antoinette and Roger,
My husband is another of your relatives and we have just found this out. My husband’s great grandfather was Gerald’s brother, JJ.
All of the story (as you probably know already) has been corroborated by his niece and I personally find it all VERY fascinating.
Trying to purchase copies of his books now.
Nanci
February 10th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Hello Nanci,
There is no blood connection with myself and Roger Allerton. You would have to tell me your husbands name and his fathers name for me to understand the relationship connection,
warmest wishes
Antoinette
March 5th, 2010 at 6:38 am
Antoinette,
Please will you contact me as I am helping another cousin to find her living relatives. You do have other cousins in America and I can give yur their contact email address. They are thrilled at finding their fasmily after so many years.
Best wishes,
Maureen
June 26th, 2010 at 11:56 am
all i can say is antoinette what a remarkable man youre father was. I have only read the cauldron but enjoyed it thoroughly and will be trying to expand my zeno library.John paul morgans article is fantastic and maybe somebody ought to consider that geralds amazing life would make good reading in its self,signed of by zeno of course
August 3rd, 2010 at 11:35 pm
This morning as I paced around the patio of my villa in Cambodia, bemoaning the “rainy season”,I began thinking about Jerry. I can’t imagine why, as I hadn’t seen the family since about 1975.
Gerry, and his pretty wife (Dorothy, I think), had a young son who attended St Johns Primary school in Duncan Terrace.
It was a meeting of the wives while waiting to pick up the kids,I guess that started our relationship with the Lamarques.
We were regular visitors at their flat opposite Islington Green. The kids got on well. As did the wives, Gerry and me.
Gerry gave me a copy of a novel which he wrote. I think it was an account of his time in the slammer, with George Blake as a close confidant of his.
Being an east end boy, I found the book extremely hard going.However, Gerry’s life style and charisma, inspired me to write a novel of my own, which has probably been recycled many times since. It would have been about the time that Fredrick Forsythe first published “The day of the Jackal”. Forsythe was well on his way to fame and riches, and while I wasn’t in search of fame; the riches bit kept me writing long hand for about two years.
Most of the stories that have been told earlier, I can relate to, especially him being dragged along by his parachute.
I got the impression that Gerry was an ex- trader down at Smithfield Market. Again, I got the impression that someone high up at McMillans (his publisher)had a soft spot for him.
Happy days they certainly were. His memory lives on.