Alfred Lennon is the father of the famous English singer and leader of the Liverpool Four. It was he who partly instilled in John a love of music. Alfred Lennon himself was also a singer, played in a band and recorded several songs. However, he could not realize himself as a musician. The article will present his brief biography.
Alfred Lennon: family
James and Jane - the grandfather and grandmother of the hero of this article - came to Liverpool from Down (Northern Ireland) in the 40s of the nineteenth century. In 1849 they got married. One of their seven children named John ("Jack") became the father of Alfred. In 1888 he married Margaret Cowley. The girl bore him two children - Michael and Mary Elizabeth, but died during childbirth. After the death of his wife, John met Mary Maguire and began to live with her in a civil marriage. The couple had fifteen children (eight of them died in infancy). Among the survivors was Alfred, who was born in 1912.
The Lennons lived then on Copperfield Street. But soon John and Mary entered into a legal marriage, and the whole family moved to Everton. Maguire gave birth to two more children - Charles and Edith. Then the Lennons again had to move to Copperfield Street. John died there in 1921. Mary could not provide for all the children on her own, so she had to send Edith and Alfred to an orphanage. The mother of the hero of this article lived another twenty-eight years and died in 1949.
Childhood
According to the recollections of relatives, Alfred Lennon grew up as a cheerful young man. He never turned down a good time. As a child, the boy suffered from rickets. As a result, he was able to grow only up to 160 centimeters. In 1927, Alfred ran away from the orphanage, joining Will Murray's musical youth group. For a while, Lennon toured with her, but soon he was detained in Glasgow and sent back to the orphanage. Then the young man finally left this institution and began to work.
But Alfred did not stay long in any place. He often borrowed money from his brother Sidney, who worked for a tailor. And most of his time, the young man had fun, visiting vaudeville and cinemas.
First love
Once Alfred Lennon was walking with a friend in Sefton Park. On one of the benches sat 14-year-old Julia Stanley. When the girl saw 15-year-old Alfred passing by, she said that his hat looked pretty stupid. The boy, on the contrary, answered her with a compliment, saying that Julia herself looked charming. After that, Alfred sat down next to her on the bench. The girl asked him to take off his ugly hat, and he threw it without hesitation.bowler into the lake.
Later, the young people became very good friends. Both were very fond of music. Alfred often imitated the singing of Al Johnson and Louis Armstrong. In addition, he, like Julia, knew how to play the banjo (a kind of guitar) perfectly. The couple often walked around Liverpool and dreamed of a joint business in the future, intending to open a shop, club, pub or cafe.
Wedding
Alfred Lennon and Julia Stanley got married only eleven years after they first met. Moreover, the proposal was not made by the hero of this article, but vice versa. The girl's family was against this marriage, so none of them came to the wedding. And Alfred invited his brother Sidney as a witness.
The celebration was held in Clayton Square at Rees' restaurant. Well, after the young people went to the cinema. The couple spent their wedding night separately.
Completion in the family
January 1940 is the time when Alfred Lennon learned about the pregnancy of his wife. Son John Winston was born in October at the Oxford Street Maternity Hospital. Alfred did not see him immediately, but only a month after his birth, as he worked on a military ship and could not return to England in time. So he was at home on short trips, but he regularly sent money to his wife and son. In 1943, checks from Lennon stopped coming. Julia soon learned that her husband had deserted.
Discord
The wife did not get bored during Alfred's absence. She entered into a relationship with soldier Taffy Williams and even gave birth to a child from him. But under pressure from her family, Julia had to put him under the care of onea married couple from Norway. She did not formalize her divorce from Alfred. Soon the girl found herself a new boyfriend - Bobby Dykins - and began to live with him. And John was at that time with Sidney (Alfred's brother).
In the summer of 1946, the boy was visiting his aunt on Menlove Avenue. Alfred arrived there and said that he was taking his son for the holidays in Blackpool. In fact, he was going to emigrate with him to New Zealand. Julia found out about this and immediately arrived. After a heated argument, Alfred told five-year-old John to choose who he would live with. The future leader of the Liverpool Four named his father twice. After Julia walked away, the boy burst into tears and ran after her. Since then, Alfred has not seen any of his family until the days of "Beatlemania".
Later life
Later, the hero of this article spoke about what happened to him in 1943 after leaving the ship without permission. Lennon sailed to North Africa (Bon). Soon he was arrested for stealing a bottle of beer and put in jail for nine days. After the release, Alfred was engaged in various "dark deeds". Then he got a job on a ship that sailed between Italy and North Africa. And only in 1944 he was finally able to return by sea to England. Five years later, Alfred was forced to end his career as a ship's steward. The thing was that he had served six months in prison. Lennon received a sentence for smashing a shop window late at night in a drunken state, taking a mannequin in a wedding dress from there and dancing with him in the middle ofstreets.
Meeting my son
Before the peak of Beatlemania, Alfred had never seen John and didn't know who the Beatles were. Lennon Sr. worked at the Greyhound Hotel in the kitchen. Once one of the visitors showed him a newspaper article with a photograph of John and asked if he was related to him. Alfred later visited the Beatles' Christmas show.
Soon, in the company of a journalist, he came to the office of the band's manager Brian Epstein and announced that he was John's father. Brian was in a panic and sent a car for the musician. When John arrived, Alfred gave him his hand, but he refused to shake it. Their conversation was short: the singer kicked his father out of the office very quickly.
Album release
At the end of 1965, Alfred Lennon released the single "This Is My Life". By this act, he greatly embarrassed his son. John asked his manager Epstein to do everything necessary to ensure that the composition did not become a hit. Brian did his best - the song did not get into any of the rating tables. In 1966, Alfred again released three singles in collaboration with the Loving Kind team. But this attempt was also unsuccessful. But now these singles have collectible value. For example, "This is my life" costs more than 50 pounds.
New marriage
In 1966, Alfred met 18-year-old Pauline Jones, who studied at the University of Exeter. The newly-made couple for a long time persuaded the girl's mother to give them permission to marry. Soon the lovers got tired of it, and they decided to run away toScotland, where they got married in the village of Gretna Green. Getting a wife to work was the goal that Alfred Lennon set himself after some time.
John Lennon's son named Julian was left without a nanny. Alfred asked him to take Polina to this position. So, she moved to Kenwood and began to look after Julian. She also went through numerous letters from John's fans. A few months later Alfred moved with his wife to Brighton. Their children, Robin Francis and David Henry, were born there.
Death
Towards the end of his life, John Lennon's Beatleman father Alfred Lennon wrote an autobiography. He dedicated it to his son. In the book, Alfred tried to convey to John that the blame for the separation of their family lies entirely with his ex-wife Julia. In 1976, Lennon Sr. was admitted to the hospital. He was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Polina contacted John and reported about her father's serious condition. The singer sent him flowers and spoke on the phone, apologizing for past behavior. Alfred soon passed away.
