Description compiled by Robert Steiner, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives.
Albert Thomas Trevor Allen (d. 1983) was born in Brompton. He left school at 14 and worked initially at a junior job in the Mechanical Engineer's Department, District Underground Railway. He wrote satirical verses for A.R. Orage's
Allen was demobilized in 1919, and worked as a free-lance contributor to the
Allen's works include the books
The collection includes background and related material for Allen's books, an unpublished autobiography in five parts, several other unpublished writings, and a mass of largely unsorted typescripts of smaller items.
Looking Back (autobiography): 1. Brompton Boy: Prelude to Adventure; 2. A Freelance Life: I collect people and their stories; 3. Freelance at Large: I collect more people with stories; 4. Authors, My Friends: a life's literary contacts; 5. Portrait in Greasepaint (centred on Ruby Miller). 2 files.
Come Over Into Macedonia: Souvenirs of a Balkan Campaign.
Mainly Personal: A Varied View of Life and People.
Ink In My Blood.
A Quest for Loving.
Papers relating to Allen's book
A Passion for Places: Exploring Town and Country.
A Passion for Places: Abroad.
They Live in History: Dramas and Romances of the Famous and Infamous.
They Loved in History: a Pageant of Real-Life Romances.
They Killed for Love and Other Notorious Murders.
Remembering a Dancer (i.e. Ivey Collette Reuter).
Heavenly Noises: the Kerb Musicians's Saga.
Murder Most Natural, and other short stories of 'the lighter side of crime'.
Contributions by Allen to 'Twenty Years After: the Battlefields of 1914-1918 Then and Now', ed. Sir Ernest Swinton, published in periodical parts, 1936-1938.
When Words are Music: Love, Peace and War Poems. 3 files.
Verse (Light).
This Thing Called Love: the Story of Richard Haston (the first version of
We Loved in Bohemia: a Radio Play adapted from the book. A pilot part-script only, with a synopsis of the remainder.
Three Women: a Play by Trevor Allen and Ruby Miller.
Jade Elephants: a Play in three acts, by Trevor Allen and Ruby Miller.
Rousseau's Confessions: a Comedy in three acts.
Rousseau's Women (an early version of the preceding item, with a letter to Allen from Julian Franks).
Very Good, My Lord. Scenario for Film or Stage. By Madame Max Darewski (i.e. Ruby Miller).
'SS: General'. Short stories, c. 50 typescripts.
Specimens of published articles, etc.
Several hundred plays, mainly unsorted typescripts of articles, short stories, radio plays, poems, etc. The papers include some drafts of published and duplicate material. A letter to Allen from the author Cecil Roberts accompanies several articles on Roberts, and there are a few other letters to Allen accompanying the scripts to which they relate.
Presented by Allen's executor, the National Westminster Bank, 1984.
Open for consultation by holders of a Reader's Ticket valid for the Manuscripts Reading Room.
Copyright in unpublished work by Allen has been assigned to the University Library.
Additional Manuscripts Catalogue.