London novels and memoirs

Back to Ironfoot Jack, here a quick review I penned (it's the only way I can remember what I thought of books after a year or two has elapsed)....

The Surrender of Silence: The Memoirs of Ironfoot Jack, King of the Bohemians (2018) by Ironfoot Jack is the autobiography of Jack Neave more commonly known as Ironfoot Jack. Jack was born in 1881 and is best known as an infamous Soho character during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. He was usually to be seen in a cloak, cravat and a wide brimmed hat. Search YouTube for the 1950s film "Look at Life: Coffee Bar" and you'll see him in the French coffee shop at 5 minutes 28 seconds. Likewise, search YouTube for "Soho Goes Gay" (1955) and he crops up again at 12 seconds.

Jack's nickname was the consequence of a shortened right leg after an accident which needed a a built up boot. How the accident happened is unclear. Jack would offer differing accounts: it was a shark bite while diving for pearls, an avalanche in Tibet, a shooting etc.

As Jack describes in this memoir over a long and varied life he "worked" as an escapologist, astrologer, numerologist, second hand bookseller, antiques dealer, nightclub promoter, founder of a would be religious sect, raconteur and numerous dubious scams to make quick money to survive until the next day. Jack possessed a smattering of knowledge about the occult and other esoteric subjects and often portrayed himself as a mystic or guru.

Jack's account of his career on the streets in the first half of the 20th century is fascinating. It reminded me of Cheapjack by Philip Allingham which also evokes a vanished world of tramps, gypsies, travellers, hustlers, show people, buskers, street market traders, artists, and other bohemian types subsisting on the margins with only their wits and an eye for an opportunity to make enough money to survive another day. Like Jack, these folk led precarious lives. As Jack repeatedly puts it "They worked to live, they did not live to work" - the essence of what Jack described as being a Bohemian.

Unlike Cheapjack, Jack's memoir was dictated by Jack while he had his portrait painted in 1956. It was then typed up. As such the end result is a rambling and repetitive verbatim account related in Jack's somewhat self agrandising manner. Jack describes some amazing stories and experiences which would have been much improved had a decent writer put it together. Another frustration is he omits lots of information which apparently appeared in his 1939 biography by Mark Benney (What rough beast? The Story of Ironfoot Jack) which is long out of print and extremely difficult to find (I know, I've tried).

How this book came to be published at all is interesting. Once the taped account had been typed, it was given to Colin Wilson (another fascinating character and writer) who was enjoying his first bloom of success in the 1950s. Jack hoped Colin Wilson could get the book published but this did not happen. Jack died soon after, in 1959.

In 2016, three years after Colin Wilson's death, his biographer Colin Stanley discovered the manuscript for this book. After realising it was worth publish, Colin Stanley edited it and so in 2018 The Surrender of Silence: The Memoirs of Ironfoot Jack, King of the Bohemians finally made it in print.

Coincidentally Colin Wilson featured Jack in his early semi-autobiographical novel Adrift in Soho (1961). Jack appears twice and is the only character given his real name.

Jack was imprisoned for 20 months after the sensational Caravan Club scandal of 1934. The Caravan Club was a gay and lesbian-friendly club in the basement of 81 Endell Street, London. It was one of a number of similar clubs in London's West End in the inter-war years and were gathering places for gay men. These clubs also often also included female prostitution and low level criminality. All were vulnerable to attention from the police. Following a police raid, the Caravan Club's owners were accused of "exhibiting to the view of any person willing to pay for admission lewd and scandalous performances". The trial was a media sensation yet despite this Jack is frustratingly coy on this whole episode and another conviction which resulted in a prison sentence.

If you're interested in this stuff then The Surrender of Silence: The Memoirs of Ironfoot Jack, King of the Bohemians is well worth a read and a fitting epitath to a renowned Soho character and all round Bohemian.

3/5