The Margery Allingham Society

How to Join * Contacts * Publications* Centenary* Site Index

About the Society

Margery Allingham in the 1940s
Margery Allingham
in the 1940s

The Margery Allingham Society was founded in 1988 to celebrate the life and work of a great 'Queen of Crime'. With Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham is ranked as one of the most distinguished writers of detective fiction's 'Golden Age'. Our first patron was Joyce Allingham, Margery's sister.

The aim of the Society is to bring together all those who share an interest in preserving, promoting and enjoying Margery Allingham's literary work and reputation through meetings, social events, publishing and by encouraging research into her life and times.

The Society meets regularly in London and East Anglia. Following the Annual General Meeting, a Birthday Luncheon is held in London as near as possible to 20th May, the birthday of both Margery Allingham and Albert Campion. A Weekend Convention is held in the autumn. Meetings and walks to explore the topography of the novels take place from time to time.

Members receive the Society's twice-yearly journal The Bottle Street Gazette, edited by Barry Pike, a founder and Chairman of the Society, which contains scholarly, speculative and frivolous articles, as well as reminiscences from friends of Margery Allingham and Philip Youngman Carter. The journal takes its name from the London address of Allingham's detective, Albert Campion, who lived in a flat at 17a Bottle Street, above a police station, jokingly referred to by Campion's valet as the "Aphrodite Glueworks". A quarterly newsletter, From the Glueworks, gives news of Society events. Click here for details of these and other Society publications.

Margery Allingham in 1962
Margery Allingham in 1962

As a result of the Society's campaigns, a commemorative Blue Plaque was unveiled at D'Arcy House in 1992. In the summer of 1997 The Margery Allingham Collection was opened at Maldon District Museum and ran until 2006.

The Society marked Albert Campion's 100th birthday by publishing a collection of essays and stories - The Albert Memorial - and holding a centenary lunch in May 2000.

Celebrations for Margery Allingham's centenary in 2004 included exhibitions in London and East Anglia, a Birthday Lunch, and the publication of a festschrift, Margery Allingham: 100 years of a great mystery writer (published May 2004) including extracts from her diaries and letters, previously unpublished work, and appreciations by distinguished crime writers such as Sara Paretsky, Robert Barnard, Natasha Cooper, Catherine Aird, Michelle Spring and Margaret Yorke.

Membership

The Margery Allingham Society welcomes enquiries and applications for membership. The annual subscription covers two issues of the Society's journal, The Bottle Street Gazette, published in the spring and autumn. Members also receive the newsletter From the Glueworks and occasional mailings detailing forthcoming events.

Click here for membership form.

Annual Subscription rates:

New members joining after October 31st will not be required to pay again in the following January.

Contacts

 

 

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