Joyce Allingham c.1989. Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 11 February 1989
1930-1955
Female
Naval Officer ; Publisher ; Photographer ; Dog-Breeder
Joyce Allingham, sister of crime novelist Margery Allingham, worked as a wartime wireless telegraphist in the Wrens, a dog-breeder, publisher, and photographer. Allingham was also known for her post-war social life in the village of Tolleshunt D’Arcy, Essex, where she lived from the 1950s until her death in 2001.
During WWII, she joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRENS) and was posted to different locations including naval stations in Dover, South Africa, and Singapore. Confirmed as Third Officer in the WRENS in August 1945, two years later Joyce produced A Day in the Life of a Wren (1947), a recruitment film for the organisation.
From the mid-to-late 1930s, Allingham used a Zeiss Ikon 16mm cine camera to film scenes in and around her sister’s new home in Tolleshunt D’Arcy, offering a glimpse of the middle-class society life they enjoyed. After leaving the WRENS, Joyce took over the family business, P & M Youngman Carter Ltd. (established in her sister’s married name), dealing with her brother-in-law to protect and guard her sister’s reputation. Living in D’Arcy House in the 1950s gave Joyce the opportunity to produce smaller local and family films, using a Bolex camera and 16mm Kodachrome film stock.
She was involved in the Margery Allingham Society; was actively involved in the 1996 organisation of the Margery Allingham room at the Maldon & District Museum; as well as being an angel investor in various West End plays.
The collection of Allingham films is now held at the East Anglian Film Archive, Norwich.
Allingham, Margery. 1941. The Oaken Heart. London: Michael Joseph Ltd.
Cleveland, David. 2011. Films Were Made: A Look at Films and Film Makers in the East of England 1896-1996, Volume 2 Local History. David Cleveland: Manningtree.
Johnson, Roger. 2012. ‘Some memories of Joyce.’ The Penny Farthing, no. 69, pp. 12-15.
Jones, Julia. 2009. The Adventures of Margery Allingham. Pleshey: Golden Duck.
Russell, Steven. 2009. ‘Queen of Crime lived and breathed Essex.’ East Anglian Daily Times. March 12. [Online] Available at: https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/21805376.queen-crime-lived-breathed-essex/ [accessed 19 December 2022].
University of East Anglia (2023). 'Joyce Allingham.' Accessed 24 January 2023. https://www.uea.ac.uk/web/groups-and-centres/projects/women-in-focus
Amateur Cinema