Albert King

Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Northumberland, England

Albert King (18th July 1889 - 20th June 1963) was an English farm labourer, who worked on Millers Farm in Morpeth for most of his life, until 1960, when he began work as a road sweeper, which he then did until his death. He was once married to the Broadway actress Gladys Morris, between the years of 1915-1920, to
gether they had four children, including Steven King, who once worked as a columnist for the Newcastle Daily Express, until it was discovered that he had murdered over twelve people, which he covered up, when writing articles blaming known offenders.

## Early life

King was born at home in Northumberland, on 18th July 1889, to a farm labourer and his wife, he never really knew his father, as he died when King was only three years old, he had two older sisters and a younger brother. He was educated at Norton School, which he left at the age of 12 and beginning in 1908, at the age of eighteen, he began working on Millers Farm in the Morpeth area of Northumberland and in 1915, he married Gladys Morris, who he met the previous year.

## Career

Though the pay was low, King supported his family by working as a farm labourer on Millers Farm, it was his duty to harvest, feed the farm animals, plant seeds and mow the lawn. He successfully done this job for fifty-two years, before Millers Farm was closed by the owner, who sold so that houses could be built on the site. King then took a job as a road sweeper, in 1960, in Newcastle Upon Tyne, which he did successfully for three years.

## Marriage and Children

In 1915, King married Gladys Morris, who was not a local girl, at the time of their meeting, she was visiting Northumberland in 1914 and met King at the Maltings Theatre, where they watched a play together. They married and lived in Warkworth. Though they tried to make their marriage work, they were too different and both wanted different things in life, Gladys began appearing in local stage productions and although King tried to support her, he could not do it financially. In a matter of four years, they had four children, one born each year, they named their children Jeffrey(b. 1917), Julia(b. 1918), Thomas(b.1919) and Steven(b.1920). A few months after the birth of their final child, Gladys filed for divorce from King and they were officially divorced before she moved to California, with her agent and new partner Edwin Stewartson. The following year, King remarried to Joyce Harris, who was looking for work as a maid in the area, she helped King bring up his children and acted as a mother figure for them.

## Death

On 19th June 1963, King suffered from a heart attack whilst doing his job as a road sweeper, he was then found by an unknown person, who was walking the street, they rung for an ambulance, using a public phone box and King was rushed to the local Newcastle Hospital, where the following day, King died, when he suffered from a second heart attack, in the early hours of the morning, the hospital staff then found King dead in the hospital bed and one of the staff members rung King's wife Joyce to tell her the bad news.

King was buried at Shields Cemetery, in the same grave that his wife Joyce was also buried in, two years later.