Ronald Wilberforce Allen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of Parliament forLeicester South | |
| In office 6 December 1923 – 9 October 1924 | |
| Preceded by | William George Waterhouse Reynolds |
| Succeeded by | Charles Waterhouse |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1889-11-24)24 November 1889 |
| Died | 10 August 1936(1936-08-10) (aged 46) |
| Political party | Liberal |
SirRonald Wilberforce Allen (24 November 1889 – 10 August 1936) was an English lawyer andLiberal politician.
Allen was born inStamford Hill in north London, the son of the Reverend William Allen, aWesleyan minister. He was educated atScarborough College andKing's College, London where obtained hisBA degree in 1910. He never married.[1] In religion he followed his father's path and became a prominentMethodist layman.[2][3][4]
Allen went in for the law and was admitted as asolicitor in 1913[5] later rising to become senior partner in the firm of Wilberforce Allen & Bryant, with offices in theStrand,Cheapside andLudgate Hill.[6] During the First World War he served as aSub-Lieutenant in theRoyal Naval Volunteer Reserve. He also gave lectures on literary and economic subjects and was an occasional contributor to various periodicals.[7] He was later a member of the Board of theAbbey Road Building Society.[8]
Allen was elected as a member ofSt Albans City Council in 1920 and served until 1923.[7] In 1922 he was adopted as prospective Liberal candidate forSt Albans[9] but never fought the seat.
Allen did not contest St Albans because he was selected instead to stand as Liberal candidate at aby-election inLeicester East in March 1922. The election was caused by the appointment of the Coalition LiberalMember of ParliamentSir Gordon Hewart asLord Chief Justice of England. As result Hewart took a seat in theHouse of Lords. Allen stood as an IndependentAsquithian Liberal in a three-cornered contest with theLabour Party and a Coalition Liberal. The anti-socialist vote thus split, Labour'sAlderman George Banton was elected with over 50% of the poll.[10]
The1922 general election followed a few months later in November and this time Allen was chosen to fight inLeicester South. In a straight fight with theConservative Party he narrowly missed being elected, the majority of his opponent, William Reynolds, being only 109 (or 0.4% of the vote).[11]
However, Allen was successful at South Leicester in the1923 general election. Again facing Reynolds in a straight fight he achieved a majority of 4,018 votes. He only served as the MP for a year though, as in1924 general election theLabour Party fielded a candidate. This had the effect of splitting the anti-Tory vote and Allen fell to the bottom of the poll, the ToryCharles Waterhouse re-gaining the seat for his party.[11]
Allen tried to re-enter theHouse of Commons at the1929 general election but he had switched seats and now contested theBanbury or North Division ofOxfordshire. In a three-cornered contest he put in a strong showing, cutting the Unionist majority from 6,228 to 2,644 with Labour in third place but he could not remove the sittingTory MPA J Edmondson.[12]
Allen did not stand as a candidate at the1931 general election but made one last attempt to re-enter Parliament in1935. He was selected to fight the seat ofPenryn and Falmouth inCornwall[13] which had been Liberal in 1923 and 1929 but which had been gained for the Conservatives byMaurice Petherick at the 1931 election. In a three-cornered contest the seat was retained by Petherick (39% of the vote) with the Labour candidate and historianA.L.Rowse coming second (32%) and Allen in third (28%).[14]
Allen was a member of the Delegacy ofKing's College London the governing body of the college. The Delegacy was a committee of the Senate of theUniversity of London, which had to ratify all major decisions.[15] He also served Treasurer of theTemperance Council of Christian Churches and was President of the London Division of the National Commercial Temperance League[16] He was for a time a member of theboard of governors of his old school, Scarborough College.[7] He was knighted in 1932.[17]
Allen died on 10 August 1936 while on a seaside holiday inFife shortly after completing a swim.[18] He was 46 years old.[19]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forLeicester South 1923–1924 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
