W. Alan Devereux
(May 18, 1899 – March 1977)
W(alter) Alan Devereux (sadly often misspelled in both contemporaneous fanzines and later research) was a UK fan from Tadworth in Surrey active from the 1930s to the 1950s. He was a member of the Science Fiction Association (SFA), joining in March 1938, and the British Fantasy Society (BFS, member #61); he attended the Eastercon and the Whitcon of 1948.
His life, and age, was rather unusual for an early fan: While born in Croydon, Surrey, UK, he spent his youth in Australia. He became an architect and in was one of junior partners of wikipedia:Francis Richard Hall in Brisbane 1923–7, apparently designing enough buildings to warrant attention of modern architecture historians, putting him in the borderland of Celebrity Fen, if not Beyond Fandom. He must have been a man of many talents: In 1927 he played Captain Blunschli in the Brisbane Repertory Theatre Society's performance of George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man as well as designing the poster for the production[1]. Still, soon afterwards he moved to England. His grandson, the sculptor Paul Grellier[2] recalls "his bookshelf [was] an eclectic mix of spiritual, artistic, travel and sci-fi!" He also did paintings, though apparently, strangely, no fan art.
Futurian War Digest #35 (June 1944) reported from the end of the first day of the Eastercon:
7.30 The Convention President (Walter H. Gillings) and Mrs. Gillings and W.A. Devereux arrive. [… at the end of the day] Devereux, Gillings & Akien [sic] decide that everyone must take everything much more seriously
… although it is unclear how seriously we should in turn take this.
As for the Whitcon, the Booklet page with participants' signatures[3] shows a rather clear loopy “W. A. Devereux”.[4]
The January 1945 Directory of Anglofandom also lists “Devereux, W. A.” among active fans.
Post-war, as Alan Devereux he published a single story in the John Carnell-edited Jinn and Jitters (anth 1946) and was a reviewer for Fantasy Review in 1947–9.
Reportedly, Devereux also attended meetings at The Shamrock and later The White Horse and The Globe until at least 1954.
Also several other Devereuxes appear, though without much detail, in later fanzines.[5] Considering the name's rarity they might be relatives/descendants.
- Alan Devereux in Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/20143271/person/18007651368/facts (registration needed)
| Person | 1899—1977 |
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- ↑ https://laboite.com.au/about/history/1920/arms-and-the-man
- ↑ https://www.paulgrellier.co.uk
- ↑ Scanned by Rob Hansen: https://fiawol.org.uk//fanstuff/THEN%20Archive/WtBk.htm
- ↑ Jack E. Quinn's report in Fantasy Times #63 / V3 #9, September 1948, “as extracted from the Whitcon Booklet” has a list with “W. C. Devereux”, an obvious typo likely influenced by the following “F. C. Herman”, a misreading of F. C. Newman.
- ↑ Including this better-unspecified: https://news.ansible.uk/a22.html#09
