Allan Fea


Allan Fea, was a British historian, specializing in the English Civil Wars period and the House of Stuart, and an antiquary, after a first career as a clerk at the Bank of England.

Life

Fea was born at St Pancras, London, in 1860, the son of William and Marie Fea, of Kentish Town, where his father was a book-keeper. He was baptized into the Church of England at St John the Baptist’s Church, Kentish Town, at the age of five weeks.
Fea’s first career was in the Bank of England. In 1893, he married Louisa Hallmark at St Pancras. They had no children. A nephew named after Fea, Allan William Francis Fea, died in 1894. In 1901, aged 40, he was living in Newnham, Kent, and was a retired bank clerk. In 1911, he was living at South Lodge, Pinner, with his wife and one servant, calling himself a retired bank clerk and author. His wife died in Kent in 1942.
Fea’s interest in priest holes and hiding places was partly prompted by visiting Sharsted Court, near his home in Newnham.
After a prolific second career as a writer of historical books, Fea died in Whitstable, Kent in 1956, aged 96. Probate was granted to his nephew Cyril Alfred Fea, a bank official.
The National Portrait Gallery has a portrait photograph of Fea by Walter Stoneman dated 1916.

Selected works