Allan Fea (25 May 1860 – 9 June 1956), 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.^[1]

Fea’s first career was in the Bank of England.^[2] In 1893, he married Louisa Hallmark at St Pancras.^[3] They had no children.^[2] A nephew named after Fea, Allan William Francis Fea, died in 1894.^[4] 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.^[2] His wife died in Kent in 1942.^[5]

Fea’s interest in priest holes and hiding places was partly prompted by visiting Sharsted Court, near his home in Newnham.^[6]

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.^[7]

The National Portrait Gallery has a portrait photograph of Fea by Walter Stoneman dated 1916.^[8]

Selected works

• The Flight of the King; being a full, true, and particular account of the miraculous escape of His Most Sacred Majesty King Charles II after the battle of Worcester (London, New York, J. Lane, 1897)
• Secret Chambers and Hiding-places; historic, romantic & legendary stories & traditions about hiding-holes, secret chambers, etc. (London, S. H. Bousfield & Co., 1901)
• King Monmouth, being a history of the career of James Scott "The Protestant duke" 1649–1685 (London, New York, J. Lane, 1902)
• Picturesque old houses; being the impressions of a wanderer off the beaten track (London, S. H. Bousfield & Co. 1902)
• After Worcester Fight (London & New York : J. Lane, 1904)
• Memoirs of the Martyr King, being a detailed record of the last two years of the reign of His Most Sacred Majesty King Charles the First (1646-1648/9) (London & New York, John Lane, 1905)
• Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe, Wife of Sir Richard Fanshawe, bt., embassador from Charles II. to the courts of Portugal & Madrid, written by herself: containing extracts from the correspondence of Sir Richard Fanshawe ed. (London New York, J. Lane, 1905)
• J. Seymour Lucas, Royal Academician (London, Virtue & Co., 1908)
• James II and his wives (London, Methuen and Co., 1908)
• Nooks and Corners of old England (New York, C. Scribner's Sons, 1907; London, Martin Secker, 1911)
• Old English Houses, the record of a random itinerary (New York, Charles Scribner's sons, 1910; London, M. Secker, 1910)
• Old World places (London, E. Nash, 1912)
• Quiet Roads and Sleepy Villages (London : E. Nash, 1913; New York, McBride, Nash, 1914)
• The Real Captain Cleveland (London, M. Secker, 1912)
• Some Beauties of the seventeenth century (London, Methuen & co., 1906) *Where Traditions linger: being rambles through remote England (Philadelphia : Lippincott, 1924)