Philip Allen, Baron Allen of Abbeydale, GCB (8 July 1912,

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

– 27 November 2007,

Windsor, Berkshire Windsor is a historic market town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British monarch. The town is situated west ...

)Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, accessed 12 June 2011 - subscription required
/ref> was a British

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

Education and early life

He was the son of Arthur Allen and Louie Tipper and educated at King Edward VII School in Sheffield and

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

, where he read law. He came top of his year in the Civil Service administrative examinations in 1934.Obituary including picture
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' 29 November 2007, accessed 12 June 2011

Career

Allen joined the Home Office in 1934 and served in the

War Cabinet A war cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war to efficiently and effectively conduct that war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers, although it is quite common for a war cabinet to have senio ...

(1943–44), then as Deputy Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (1955–60). He then became Deputy Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office (1960–62), Second Secretary at

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's Government ...

(1963–66), and

Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office The Permanent Under-Secretary of State of the Home Office is the permanent secretary of the Home Office, the most senior civil servant in the department, charged with running its affairs on a day-to-day basis. Home Office Permanent Secretaries * ...

(1966–72).

Timothy Evans

As deputy chairman of the Prison Commission for England and Wales from 1950 to 1952, he advised against a reprieve for Timothy Evans, hanged in 1950 for the murder of his baby daughter at 10 Rillington Place, London. He also thought that Evans was guilty of the murder of his wife, for which Evans had not been prosecuted. Evans was pardoned in 1966 and Evans' neighbour, John Christie, was held responsible for strangling his own wife and five other women as well as Evans' wife, to which he confessed. When the Home Office files were published, Allen expressed his deep regret at the advice he had given.Obituary
in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', 11 December 2007 accessed 12 June 2011

Derek Bentley

Together with Permanent Under-Secretary Sir Frank Newsam, Allen unsuccessfully urged a reprieve for Derek Bentley, who was hanged aged 19 in 1953 for the murder of a policeman. Bentley, who was already under arrest at the time, had allegedly called to an armed accomplice, Christopher Craig, "Let him have it, Chris!", when they were caught in a burglary. The remark, if made, was ambiguous, possibly urging surrender of Craig's gun, rather than inciting Craig to murder. In 1998, Bentley received a posthumous pardon. Craig was imprisoned, being under-age for execution, and was later released.

Honours and roles

Allen was appointed a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregiv ...

(CB) in the

1954 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1954 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate ...

, promoted to Knight Commander (KCB) in the

1964 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1964 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate ...

and to

Knight Grand Cross Grand Cross is the highest class in many orders, and manifested in its insignia. Exceptionally, the highest class may be referred to as Grand Cordon or equivalent. In other cases, there may exist a rank even higher than Grand Cross, e.g. Grand ...

(GCB) in the 1970 Birthday Honours. In 1975, under the provisions of the Referendum Act, he oversaw as "Chief Counting Officer" for the European Communities membership referendum on 5 June, the first referendum ever to be held across the United Kingdom and saw voters approve continued

membership Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

by 67% of voters to 32% on a national turnout of 64%. Announced in the

1976 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1976 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were published on 4 June 1976 for ...

, Allen was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

as Baron Allen of Abbeydale, of the

City of Sheffield The City of Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire, England. The metropolitan borough includes the administrative centre of Sheffield, the town of Stocksbridge and larger village of Chapeltown and part of the Peak Di ...

, on 12 July 1976. He sat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

as a

crossbencher A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...

. From 1973 to 1978 he was a member of the Pearson commission. He was chairman of the council of

Royal Holloway College Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

during its merger with Bedford College in 1985.

Personal life

In 1938 he married Marjorie Coe (d. 2002). They had no children. He lived for many years in

Englefield Green Englefield Green is a large village in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, approximately west of central London. It is home to Royal Holloway, University of London. The village grew from a hamlet in the 19th century, when much of Egham ( ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Philip 1912 births 2007 deaths Crossbench life peers Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for the Home Department Civil servants in the Cabinet Office Civil servants in the Ministry of Housing and Local Government Second Permanent Secretaries of HM Treasury Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge People educated at King Edward VII School, Sheffield People from Englefield Green Life peers created by Elizabeth II