Allen Henry Philip Stoneham (1856 - 1927) was a British sportsman, businessman and Financial Secretary of the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

Biography

He was a son of Allen Stoneham. He was educated at the

City of London School The City of London School, also known as CLS and City, is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school for Single-sex education, boys in the City of London, England, on the banks of the River Thames next to the Millennium Bridge, ...

and at

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

. In his youth he was a prominent athlete, gaining many L.A.C. and other prizes. He won the Civil Service Quarter Mile Handicap. He also played rugby for the

Queen's House Queen's House is a former royal residence in the London borough of Greenwich, which presently serves as a public art gallery. It was built between 1616 and 1635 on the grounds of the now demolished Greenwich Palace, a few miles downriver fro ...

, one of the twenty-one original members of the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

. Stoneham was responsible for the introduction of

electric tramway A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

s into

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, and was the donor of the statue of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

to the City of

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

W.A. In 1902, Stoneham and

John Robinson Whitley John Robinson Whitley, (13 December 1843, Leeds – 22 March 1922, Condette, France) was a British entrepreneur who inaugurated the Earl's Court Exhibition Grounds in West London in 1887. After four major exhibitions on the site (1887–1892) ...

(1843-1922) bought land in Northern France, through their company ''Le Touquet Syndicate Ltd.'', and were instrumental in developing the town into the golf and gambling resort at

Le Touquet Le Touquet-Paris-Plage (, Picard language, Picard: ''Ech Toutchet-Paris-Plache''), commonly referred to as Le Touquet (), is a Communes of France, commune near Étaples, in the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department, northern France. ...

. From 1902 until his death in 1927, he devoted himself to the development of the town. After the outbreak of the

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he offered the domain of Le Touquet for the use of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. For his services he was awarded the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

. Family life His first marriage was with Jane Harley Cowie born in 1853 in Scotland. They had 3 daughters born in Surbiton Irene in 1884 , Linda in 1886 and Phyllis in 1889. His wife's brother John James Milroy Cowie was a famous sprinter in the early 1880s winning the AAA 100yards and 400yards and breaking the 220 yard world record in 1883. His son in law was Roland Clive Wallace Burn (married to Phyllis). He married again, after the death of his first wife in 1899, to Florence Marie Louise born in Montreal Canada. They had two children, Donald and Vincent.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoneham, Allen 1856 births 1927 deaths Alumni of the University of London English rugby union players