# Gerald Hamilton > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Gerald_Hamilton > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Gerald_Hamilton.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Hamilton > Source revision: 1351910281 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|British writer (1890–1970)}} {{other uses}} {{Lead too short|date=December 2020}} {{Use British English|date=December 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}} {{infobox writer |birth_name = Gerald Bernard Francis Souter |birth_date = {{birth date|1890|11|1|df=yes}} |birth_place = [Shanghai](/source/Shanghai), China |death_date = {{death date and age|1970|6|9|1890|11|1|df=yes}} |death_place = London, England |occupation = Writer |subjects = Memoir |education = [Rugby School](/source/Rugby_School) }} '''Gerald Bernard Francis Hamilton''' (né '''Souter'''; 1 November 1890 – 9 June 1970) was a British memoirist, critic and internationalist known as "the wickedest man in Europe".{{Cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hkEGmgEACAAJ| title = The Man who was Norris: The Life of Gerald Hamilton| last = Cullen| first = Tom | date = 2014| publisher = Dedalus| isbn = 9781909232433| language = en}} Hamilton counted among his friends [Winston Churchill](/source/Winston_Churchill), [Robin Maugham](/source/Robin_Cecil_Romer_Maugham%2C_2nd_Viscount_Maugham), [Tallulah Bankhead](/source/Tallulah_Bankhead) and [Christopher Isherwood](/source/Christopher_Isherwood), who wrote of Hamilton's remarkable personality and frequently shady dealings in his literary memoir ''[Christopher and His Kind](/source/Christopher_and_His_Kind)''. ==Early life== Born '''Gerald Frank Hamilton Souter''' in [Shanghai](/source/Shanghai) on 1 November 1890,The [Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Shanghai](/source/Holy_Trinity_Church%2C_Shanghai), baptism register number 180, 1 January 1891. Source: microfilm, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints he was educated at [Lambrook](/source/Lambrook) preparatory and [Rugby School](/source/Rugby_School) in England. Hamilton's father, Frank Thomas Edward Souter (1863–1941), was a businessman of Scottish descent with commercial interests in China, and his mother, Edith Minnie, ''née'' Holliday (1860–1890), was English.{{Cite ODNB |title=Hamilton, Gerald Francis Bernard (1890–1970), literary prototype, author, and rogue |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-98104 |access-date=2022-03-03 | year=2004 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/98104| isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }} During two years working in China, Souter fell ill with [dysentery](/source/dysentery) and was cared for by a Catholic nurse, which he said inspired him to convert to Catholicism. His conversion caused his father to disown him; as a result, he changed his surname from Souter to Hamilton. He hinted that his lineage was "faintly ducal", but it is unknown if he was directly related to anyone with a title. According to [Anthony Powell](/source/Anthony_Powell), all that had to be done to disprove that claim was to look up his named father and grandfather, who were not to be found in any title registry.''Daily Telegraph'', 24 October 1974. ==World Wars== Hamilton was interned in the United Kingdom during the [First World War](/source/World_War_I) because, he claimed, of his association with [Roger Casement](/source/Roger_Casement), the [Irish nationalist](/source/Irish_nationalist) later executed for treason. Hamilton's own homosexuality was only a thinly veiled secret. [Winston Churchill](/source/Winston_Churchill) had the [Communist](/source/Communism)-sympathising Hamilton temporarily interned during the [Second World War](/source/World_War_II) because of his vocal opposition to the conflict. ==Sales representative, informer, and prisoner== Hamilton was employed at various times by ''[The Times](/source/The_Times)'' as its German sales representative. He was known as a fixer for [Willi Münzenberg](/source/Willi_M%C3%BCnzenberg), "the notorious communist, who presided in [Berlin](/source/Berlin) on behalf of [Moscow](/source/Moscow) over the doings of the [League Against Imperialism](/source/League_against_Imperialism) and [Friends of Soviet Russia](/source/Friends_of_Soviet_Russia)" (as [British Intelligence](/source/British_intelligence_agencies) described him), and as a go-between or informer by various agencies, including [Sinn Féin](/source/Sinn_F%C3%A9in), [Special Branch](/source/Special_Branch_(Metropolitan_Police)), and the British Military Mission in Berlin. At one time, he shared accommodation with "the Great Beast", [Aleister Crowley](/source/Aleister_Crowley). Hamilton served prison sentences for bankruptcy, theft, [gross indecency](/source/gross_indecency) and being a threat to [national security](/source/national_security).[http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/9263491/the-man-who-was-norris-by-tom-cullen-review Review of ''The Man Who Was Norris''], ''[The Spectator](/source/The_Spectator)''. Retrieved 14 December 201. ==Memoirs== Hamilton served as the model for Isherwood's character Arthur Norris in his novel ''[Mr Norris Changes Trains](/source/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](/source/obfuscation); [Robin Maugham](/source/Robin_Maugham)'s five-part "exposé" in ''[The People](/source/The_Sunday_People)'' was in fact concocted in collusion with Hamilton, while [John Symonds](/source/John_Symonds)'s ''Conversations with Gerald'' (1974) allowed Hamilton to spin yet more yarns.[http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/9263491/the-man-who-was-norris-by-tom-cullen-review/ Review], ''[The Spectator](/source/The_Spectator)''. Retrieved 14 December 2015. ==Life in Berkshire== In 1940, Hamilton became the lover of jazz bandleader [Ken "Snakehips" Johnson](/source/Ken_%22Snakehips%22_Johnson), who was 20 years his junior. They moved in together at 91 [Kinnerton Street](/source/Kinnerton_Street) in [Belgravia](/source/Belgravia) and later bought a cottage called "Little Basing" in Vicarage Road, [Bray, Berkshire](/source/Bray%2C_Berkshire), where Johnson could go sailing, which was one of his hobbies.{{Cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ahOMDwAAQBAJ| title = Fighting Proud: The Untold Story of the Gay Men Who Served in Two World Wars | last = Bourne| first = Stephen|author-link=Stephen Bourne (writer) | date = 2017| publisher = Bloomsbury| isbn = 9781786732156| language = en}} Hamilton was at that cottage when he received a phone call on 9 March 1941, informing him of Johnson's death in a [bombing raid](/source/bombing_raid), and asking him to come and identify the body. He later recalled: "Again that awful feeling of nausea which I had felt when France fell, and again that sensation of the ground slipping from beneath my feet." From then on, Hamilton kept a picture of Johnson in a white tuxedo with white satin facings at all times with him, calling him "my husband". ==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](/source/marriage_of_convenience) at [Chelsea Register Office](/source/Kensington_and_Chelsea_Register_Office) on 29 April 1933 for a payment of £20,000. 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](/source/St_Jude's_Church%2C_Kensington), [Kensington](/source/Kensington). ==Far-right supporter== In the [post-war](/source/post-war) period, Hamilton drifted towards the [far-right](/source/far-right): he was active on behalf of [Oswald Mosley](/source/Oswald_Mosley), and in 1948 travelled to the United States, with the intention of procuring a loan for the [Franco](/source/Francisco_Franco) government from the [Knights of Columbus](/source/Knights_of_Columbus). In 1959, Hamilton accepted South African money to write a [travel book](/source/travel_book), ''Jacaranda'', which is said to have portrayed [apartheid](/source/apartheid) in a favourable light. ==Historical works== His other books include ''Emma in Blue'', about Lady [Emma Hamilton](/source/Emma_Hamilton) and particularly her friendship with [Maria Carolina of Austria](/source/Maria_Carolina_of_Austria) while in [Naples](/source/Naples), and ''Blood Royal'', a history of [Queen Victoria](/source/Queen_Victoria)'s immediate descendants and relatives in Europe, and the [haemophilia](/source/haemophilia) that afflicted the family. ==Old age== Hamilton's latter days saw him living in a [bedsitter](/source/bedsitter) at 518A [King's Road](/source/King's_Road), London, above a [Chinese restaurant](/source/Chinese_restaurant) called The Good Earth. Of this, he liked to say: "Better above the Good Earth than below it." == Death == Hamilton died on 9 June 1970, aged 79, in [St Stephen's Hospital](/source/St._Stephen's_Hospital) in [Chelsea](/source/Chelsea%2C_London), as a result of [heart failure](/source/heart_failure). He was cremated.{{cite book|last=Symonds|first=John|title=Conversations with Gerald|page=209|publisher=Duckworth|date=1974|isbn=0-7156-0815-0}} ==In popular culture== Later in his life, Hamilton became friends with [John Symonds](/source/John_Symonds), author and editor, who wrote ''Conversations with Gerald'' about their acquaintance. There is a classic account of Hamilton in later life in Robin Maugham's second volume of autobiography, ''Search for Nirvana'' (1979). Hamilton was portrayed by [Toby Jones](/source/Toby_Jones) in the BBC production ''[Christopher and His Kind](/source/Christopher_and_His_Kind_(television_film))'' (2011).[https://web.archive.org/web/20190105111724/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4f4b8359be944 "Christopher and His Kind"], BFI. Retrieved 6 June 2021. ==Works== *''As Young as Sophocles'', Secker & Warburg, 1937 *''Mr Norris and I'', Allan Wingate, 1956 *''Emma in Blue'', Allan Wingate, 1957 *''Jacaranda'', Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1961 *''Blood Royal'', Times Publishing/Anthony Gibbs & Phillips, 1964 *''The Way it Was With Me'', London: Leslie Frewin, 1969, {{ISBN|0-09-096560-4}} ==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}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20180723182325/http://www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie/reels/bmh/BMH.WS0866.pdf ''Bureau of Military History''] ==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928012159/http://www.redflame93.com/Hamilton.html Gerald Hamilton: A Biographical Sketch of a Friend & Acquaintance of Aleister Crowley] ==References== {{Reflist|30em}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Gerald}} Category:1890 births Category:1970 deaths Category:20th-century British travel writers Category:20th-century English criminals Category:20th-century English historians Category:20th-century English LGBTQ people Category:20th-century English memoirists Category:British people convicted of theft Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism Category:Deaths from congestive heart failure in England Category:English LGBTQ writers Category:English people of Scottish descent Category:English prisoners and detainees Category:English travel writers Category:LGBTQ memoirists Category:People convicted for homosexuality in the United Kingdom Category:People educated at Rugby School Category:The Times people Category:Writers from Shanghai --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Gerald Hamilton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Hamilton) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Hamilton?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.