The Stoat

Alexander Patrick McAllister was born on the 4th July 1877 in Dublin, Ireland.

He was educated at the National University of Ireland (NUI), where he then served variously as librarian, clerk and chief clerk between 1903 and 1914.

McAllister first came to public attention with his play 'Irene Wycherly', which was first performed in London in 1906. It was the first of several plays although all the while he remained resident in Dublin.

During the First World War he served in British Intelligence with the British Army before joining the Machine Gun Corps where he was wounded twice during combat in France.

After the war he moved to London before relocating to Ferndown in Dorset. He continued to pursue his literary career and now turned his hand to fiction writing short stories and novels. Among the latter was a very popular series, released in the 20s and 30s, in the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, with the character Colonel Gore. All of this series was presented as written by Lynn Brock. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Alister McAllister and Anthony Wharton

Alexander McAllister died on the 6th April 1943 in Dorchester, Dorset, England. He was 65.