Ronald Wilberforce Allen
Encyclopedia
Sir Ronald Wilberforce Allen (24 November 1889 – 10 August 1936) was an English lawyer and Liberal
politician.
in north London, the son of the Reverend William Allen, a Wesleyan
minister. He was educated at Scarborough College
and King’s College, London where obtained his BA
degree in 1910. He never married. In religion he followed his father’s path and became a prominent Methodist layman.
in 1913 later rising to become senior partner in the firm of Wilberforce Allen & Bryant, with offices in the Strand
, Cheapside
and Ludgate Hill
. During the First World War he served as a Sub-Lieutenant
in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. He also gave lectures on literary and economic subjects and was an occasional contributor to various periodicals. He was later a member of the Board of the Abbey Road Building Society
.
City Council in 1920 and served until 1923. In 1922 he was adopted as prospective Liberal candidate for St Albans
but never fought the seat.
in Leicester East
in March 1922. The election was caused by the appointment of the Coalition Liberal Member of Parliament Sir Gordon Hewart
as Lord Chief Justice of England. As result Hewart took a seat in the House of Lords
. Allen stood as an Independent Asquithian Liberal in a three-cornered contest with the Labour Party
and a Coalition Liberal. The anti-socialist vote thus split, Labour’s Alderman
George Banton was elected with over 50% of the poll.
followed a few months later in November and this time Allen was chosen to fight in Leicester South
. In a straight fight with the Conservative Party
he narrowly missed being elected, the majority of his opponent, William Reynolds, being only 109 (or 0.4% of the vote).
. 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 in 1924 general election
the Labour Party
fielded a candidate. This had the effect of splitting the anti-Tory vote and Allen fell to the bottom of the poll, the Tory Charles Waterhouse
re-gaining the seat for his party.
at the 1929 general election
but he had switched seats and now contested the Banbury or North Division
of Oxfordshire
. 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 sitting Tory
MP A J Edmondson
.
Allen did not stand as a candidate at the 1931 general election
but made one last attempt to re-enter Parliament in 1935
. He was selected to fight the seat of Penryn and Falmouth
in Cornwall
which had been Liberal in 1923 and 1929 but which had been gained for the Conservatives by Maurice 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 historian A.L.Rowse coming second (32%) and Allen in third (28%).
the governing body of the College. The Delegacy was a committee of the Senate of the University of London
, which had to ratify all major decisions. He also served Treasurer of the Temperance Council of Christian Churches and was President of the London Division of the National Commercial Temperance League He was for a time a member of the Board of Governors
of his old school, Scarborough College. He was knighted in 1932.
shortly after completing a swim. He was 46 years old.
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
politician.
Family and education
Allen was born in Stamford HillStamford Hill
Stamford Hill is a place in the north of the London Borough of Hackney, England, near the border with Haringey. It is home to Europe's largest Hasidic Jewish and Adeni Jewish community.Stamford Hill is NNE of Charing Cross.-History:...
in north London, the son of the Reverend William Allen, a Wesleyan
Wesleyanism
Wesleyanism or Wesleyan theology refers, respectively, to either the eponymous movement of Protestant Christians who have historically sought to follow the methods or theology of the eighteenth-century evangelical reformers, John Wesley and his brother Charles Wesley, or to the likewise eponymous...
minister. He was educated at Scarborough College
Scarborough College
Scarborough College is an independent day and boarding school for boys and girls aged 3-18 years. It is located in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England and was founded in 1898. The school has been an International Baccalaureate World School since June 2006...
and King’s College, London where obtained his BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in 1910. He never married. In religion he followed his father’s path and became a prominent Methodist layman.
Career
Allen went in for the law and was admitted as a solicitorSolicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
in 1913 later rising to become senior partner in the firm of Wilberforce Allen & Bryant, with offices in the Strand
Strand, London
Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...
, Cheapside
Cheapside
Cheapside is a street in the City of London that links Newgate Street with the junction of Queen Victoria Street and Mansion House Street. To the east is Mansion House, the Bank of England, and the major road junction above Bank tube station. To the west is St. Paul's Cathedral, St...
and Ludgate Hill
Ludgate Hill
Ludgate Hill is a hill in the City of London, near the old Ludgate, a gate to the City that was taken down, with its attached gaol, in 1780. Ludgate Hill is the site of St Paul's Cathedral, traditionally said to have been the site of a Roman temple of the goddess Diana. It is one of the three...
. During the First World War he served as a Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-lieutenant is a military rank. It is normally a junior officer rank.In many navies, a sub-lieutenant is a naval commissioned or subordinate officer, ranking below a lieutenant. In the Royal Navy the rank of sub-lieutenant is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant in the British Army and of...
in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. He also gave lectures on literary and economic subjects and was an occasional contributor to various periodicals. He was later a member of the Board of the Abbey Road Building Society
Abbey (bank)
Abbey National plc was a UK-based bank and former building society, which latterly traded under the Abbey brand name. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of Grupo Santander of Spain in 2004, and was rebranded as Santander in January 2010, forming Santander UK along with the savings business of the...
.
Beginnings
Allen was elected as a member of St AlbansSt Albans
St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...
City Council in 1920 and served until 1923. In 1922 he was adopted as prospective Liberal candidate for St Albans
St Albans (UK Parliament constituency)
St Albans is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Established in 1885, it is a county constituency in Hertfordshire, and elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.From 1554 to 1852 there was a...
but never fought the seat.
Leicester East by-election
Allen did not contest St Albans because he was selected instead to stand as Liberal candidate at a by-electionBy-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in Leicester East
Leicester East (UK Parliament constituency)
- Elections in the 2000s :In 2005 this seat bucked the national trend as there was a swing to Labour whereas the national swing was 2.5% to the Conservatives.- Elections in the 1990s :- Elections in the 1970s :...
in March 1922. The election was caused by the appointment of the Coalition Liberal Member of Parliament Sir Gordon Hewart
Gordon Hewart, 1st Viscount Hewart
Gordon Hewart, 1st Viscount Hewart, PC was a politician and judge in the United Kingdom.-Background and education:...
as Lord Chief Justice of England. As result Hewart took a seat in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. Allen stood as an Independent Asquithian Liberal in a three-cornered contest with the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
and a Coalition Liberal. The anti-socialist vote thus split, Labour’s Alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
George Banton was elected with over 50% of the poll.
The General Election of 1922
The 1922 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1922
The United Kingdom general election of 1922 was held on 15 November 1922. It was the first election held after most of the Irish counties left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State, and was won by Andrew Bonar Law's Conservatives, who gained an overall majority over Labour, led by John...
followed a few months later in November and this time Allen was chosen to fight in Leicester South
Leicester South (UK Parliament constituency)
Leicester South is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament , by the first past the post voting system...
. In a straight fight with the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
he narrowly missed being elected, the majority of his opponent, William Reynolds, being only 109 (or 0.4% of the vote).
The General Elections of 1923 and 1924
However Allen was successful at South Leicester in the 1923 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1923
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...
. 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 in 1924 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1924
- Seats summary :- References :* F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* - External links :* * *...
the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
fielded a candidate. This had the effect of splitting the anti-Tory vote and Allen fell to the bottom of the poll, the Tory Charles Waterhouse
Charles Waterhouse (English politician)
Captain Charles Waterhouse PC MC was a British Conservative politician.-Biography:Born in Salford, the second surviving son of Thomas Crompton Waterhouse, of Lomberdale Hall, Bakewell, Derbyshire, he was educated at Cheltenham and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, graduating with an MA degree in...
re-gaining the seat for his party.
1929-1935
Allen tried to re-enter the House of CommonsBritish House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
at the 1929 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1929
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...
but he had switched seats and now contested the Banbury or North Division
Banbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Banbury is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is a strongly Conservative seat.The constituency was created January 26, 1554 through the efforts of Henry Stafford and Thomas Denton...
of Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
. 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 sitting Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
MP A J Edmondson
Albert Edmondson, 1st Baron Sandford
Albert James Edmondson, 1st Baron Sandford was a British Conservative Party politician.At the 1922 general election, he was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Banbury, and held the seat until he stepped down at the 1945 general election...
.
Allen did not stand as a candidate at the 1931 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1931
The United Kingdom general election on Tuesday 27 October 1931 was the last in the United Kingdom not held on a Thursday. It was also the last election, and the only one under universal suffrage, where one party received an absolute majority of the votes cast.The 1931 general election was the...
but made one last attempt to re-enter Parliament in 1935
United Kingdom general election, 1935
The United Kingdom general election held on 14 November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Conservative Stanley Baldwin. The greatest number of MPs, as before, were Conservative, while the National Liberal vote held steady...
. He was selected to fight the seat of Penryn and Falmouth
Penryn and Falmouth (UK Parliament constituency)
Penryn and Falmouth was the name of a constituency in Cornwall represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1832 until 1950. From 1832 to 1885 it was a parliamentary borough returning two Members of Parliament , elected by the bloc vote system...
in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
which had been Liberal in 1923 and 1929 but which had been gained for the Conservatives by Maurice Petherick
Maurice Petherick
Maurice Petherick was a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Penryn & Falmouth from 1931 to 1945, and as Financial Secretary to the War Office, briefly, in 1945.-Early life:...
at the 1931 election. In a three-cornered contest the seat was retained by Petherick (39% of the vote) with the Labour candidate and historian A.L.Rowse coming second (32%) and Allen in third (28%).
Other appointments and honours
Allen was a member of the Delegacy of King's College LondonKing's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
the governing body of the College. The Delegacy was a committee of the Senate of the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
, which had to ratify all major decisions. He also served Treasurer of the Temperance Council of Christian Churches and was President of the London Division of the National Commercial Temperance League He was for a time a member of the Board of Governors
Board of governors
Board of governors is a term sometimes applied to the board of directors of a public entity or non-profit organization.Many public institutions, such as public universities, are government-owned corporations. The British Broadcasting Corporation was managed by a board of governors, though this role...
of his old school, Scarborough College. He was knighted in 1932.
Death
Allen died on 10 August 1936 while on a seaside holiday in FifeFife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
shortly after completing a swim. He was 46 years old.