Albert Chapman

In the novel One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, Mr Albert Chapman and his wife Sylvia have a flat at 45, King Leopold Mansions in Battersea. The Chapmans came to the notice of the police after the disappearance of Mabelle Sainsbury Seale as she was last about to enter their flat.

Police inquiries revealed that Albert Chapman was a commercial traveller working for some armaments firm and was seldom home. Mrs Merton, a friend of Mrs Chapman and a neighbour later told Chief Inspector Japp and Poirot that she knew something more. Apparently, while watching a movie about spies, Mrs Chapman had, indiscreetly it seemed, revealed that her husband worked for the Secret Service.

After the murder of the dentist Henry Morley, Poirot had gone to interview Reginald Barnes, a retired civil servant and a fellow patient of Poirot of the dental practice at 58 Queen Charlotte Street. Barnes appeared highly interested in the case, and offered various theories and suggestions and Poirot met him on several occasions. At one of these, Poirot asked Barnes if, given his civil service background, he knew of Albert Chapman. Barnes confirmed that he did. Chapman was more usually known by his code Q.X.912 and he was an intelligence agent often employed as a courier because he was "an insignificant kind of chap", whose face is not easily remembered. Barnes added that Chapman had no business to tell his wife about his job, nor indeed ought he have remained in the service after marriage. Barnes also said he had heard a rumour that Chapman had died, but that was only a rumour.

Only at the end of the book does Barnes confess that he himself is Albert Chapman. He never had a wife and hence he was interested in the case because he knew someone was using his persona.

Portrayals
In ITV's 1992 adaptation of the novel, the espionage angle is played down. There is an Albert Chapman but he has a different backstory and plays a different role in the plot. After the disappearance of Mabelle Sainsbury Seale, the police are on the look out for Albert Chapman and his wife because Mabelle was last seen visiting their flat at Lichfield Court (the King Leopold Mansions equivalent).

Japp and his men finally get a report that the couple is staying at the Montague Hotel in Bloomsbury and they raid the place. There the surprised Albert Chapman tells Japp that he never lived at Lichfield Court--they live at Budleigh Salterton in Devon. He proves it by showing Japp a copy of their wedding banns. They had just gotten married on the morning of the police raid. So this Albert Chapman is a case of mistaken identity. His wife isn't even Sylvia as the police expect, but Beryl. Albert Chapman is portrayed by Bruce Alexander.