Percy Allen (writer)
| Percy Allen | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1875 |
| Died | 1959 |
| Nationality | UK |
| Occupation | Journalist; writer; lecturer |
| Years active | 1900–1959 |
| Notable work |
The life Story of Edward de Vere as "William Shakespeare" Talks with Elizabethans |
| Signature | |
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Percy Allen (1875–1959) was an English journalist, writer and lecturer most notable for his advocacy of the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship, and particularly for his creation of Prince Tudor theory, which claimed that the Earl of Oxford fathered a child with Queen Elizabeth I.
Allen's a father was a lawyer, but his family also had literary and theatrical connections. He was the grandson of Victorian actress Fanny Stirling.
Living in Croydon, by the early 20th century Allen was established as a prolific author and journalist. In his youth he became a member of the Christian adventist sect the Plymouth Brethren. He moved to France, publishing several travel books about France. Burgundy: the Splendid Duchy – Stories and Sketches in South Burgundy and Impressions of Provence were collaborations with the illustrator Marjorie Nash. Berry: the heart of France was a similar work illustrated by P. Dubuisson. He also wrote on French poetry and history, publishing Songs of Old France and Roman and Medieval France. He was in France during the First World War, working with the YMCA in 1918.
After the war he returned to London, and was employed by the Christian Science Monitor as its drama critic. In 1922 he wrote a biography of his grandmother, The Stage Life of Mrs Stirling: With Some Sketches of the Nineteenth Century Theatre. In the mid-1920s he also published a number of plays. These included two full-length comedies, Tradition and the Torch and Comers Down the Wind, along with two one-act plays, The Seekers and The Life that's Free. At the same time Allen became interested in Spiritualism, after having read several books on the subject. He was convinced of the veracity of spirit-communication by Arthur Conan Doyle.
In 1928 he turned his attention to Shakespeare, publishing Shakespeare and Chapman as Topical Dramatists, an attempt to demonstrate that works by Shakespeare and George Chapman commented on political and cultural events of the day. He later followed it up with a book on Shakespeare's and Chapman's references to events in recent French history. In 1929, he published Shakespeare, Jonson and Wilkins as Borrowers, drawing attention to the wide range of sources appropriated by Elizabethan dramatists.
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