Sir Carleton Kemp Allen (7 September 1887 – 11 December 1966) was an Australian-born

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

and

Warden A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically ident ...

Rhodes House Rhodes House is a building part of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on South Parks Road in central Oxford, and was built in memory of Cecil Rhodes, an alumnus of the university and a major benefactor. It is Listed building#En ...

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. Entry by his successor as Warden of Rhodes House, E.T. Williams, in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''

Early life and student career

Carleton Allen, or 'C.K.' as he came to be known, was born in

Carlton, Victoria Carlton is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, three kilometres north of the Melbourne central business district within the city of Melbourne local government area. Carlton recorded a population of 16,055 at the 2021 census. ...

, the third son of William Allen, a

Congregational Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...

minister and the younger brother of

Leslie Holdsworth Allen Leslie Holdsworth Allen (21 June 1879 – 5 January 1964) was an Australian academic and poet. He was Professor of English at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, the senior lecturer of English and Latin at Canberra University College and chai ...

. He was three when his family moved to Sydney, where he attended

Newington College Newington College is a multi-campus Independent school, independent Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting Church Single-sex education, single-sex and Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school education, early learning, Primary school, primar ...

(1900–1906). In 1903 and 1904 he was awarded the Wigram Allen Scholarship, awarded by

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

George Wigram Allen Sir George Wigram Allen (16 May 1824 – 23 July 1885) was an Australian politician and philanthropist. He was Speaker (politics), Speaker in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1875–1883. Allen was held in high esteem. As speaker he sho ...

, sharing it in 1904 with

Howard McKern Howard Hamlet Gordon McKern (23 March 1917 - 8 June 2009) was an Australian Analytical chemistry, analytical and organic chemist, museum administrator who was Deputy Director of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences and President of the Royal ...

. At the end of 1905 he was named Dux of the College and received the Schofield Scholarship. At the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

he read classics and graduated

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in 1910. Having won a scholarship to

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, he attended New College and studied

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

under Sir Paul Vinogradoff. He took first-class honours in 1912 and was elected Eldon Law Scholar in 1913.

Military and academic career

Allen was a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in the 13th

Battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

Middlesex Regiment The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1966. The regiment was formed, as the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment), in 1881 as part of the Childers Re ...

, in

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 ...

, was wounded, and was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

in 1918. At the end of the war, he was elected Stowell Civil Law Fellow of

University College, Oxford University College, formally The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University commonly called University College in the University of Oxford and colloquially referred to as "Univ", is a Colleges of the University of Oxf ...

and he remained a fellow of that college until his death. In 1926, he spent a year as

Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

professor at the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

and published his lectures from that time as ''Law in the Making'' in 1927. This compilation became an established classic and he completed a seventh edition in 1965. In 1929 he was appointed Professor of Jurisprudence at Oxford, but in 1931 became the second warden of Rhodes House. He filled this office with great distinction and he and his wife, Dorothy Frances Allen (1896–1959), whom he had married at Oxford in 1922, won the affection and respect of generations of Rhodes scholars. Dorothy Allen's memoirs, ''Sunlight and Shadow'' (1960) (which Allen brought to publication after her death), give an account of life at Rhodes House. On his retirement in 1952 he was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

ed. He died at Oxford and was survived by his second wife, Hilda, whom he had married in 1962, and by two children of his first marriage, a son and daughter (the writer Rosemary Dinnage). A portrait of Sir Carleton Allen hangs in Rhodes House, Oxford, and images of him are held by the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Publications

* The Judgment of Paris: A Comedy (1924) * Oh! Mr Leacock (1925) * * Bureaucracy Triumphant (1931) * * , reprinted 1972. * Law and Orders (1945) * The Queen's Peace (1953), his

Hamlyn Lectures The Hamlyn Lectures are a series of public lectures in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland given annually on a legal topic. The lectures have been given every year since 1949 in memory of Emma Hamlyn 's father William Bussell Hamlyn. Hi ...

* * Aspects of Justice (1958); he also wrote two novels.

References

Bibliography

* David Macmillan, Newington College 1863–1963 (Sydney, 1963) * Peter Swain, Newington Across the Years 1893–1988 (Sydney, 1988) * Lord Elton, The First Fifty Years of the Rhodes Trust and the Rhodes Scholarships, 1903–1953 (Oxford, 1955) * Dorothy Allen, Sunlight and Shadow: An Autobiography (Oxford University Press: London, 1960)

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Carleton 1887 births 1966 deaths Military personnel from Melbourne Australian military personnel of World War I British Army personnel of World War I Middlesex Regiment officers Australian recipients of the Military Cross Australian Knights Bachelor Australian Congregationalists Australian educators Australian people of English descent People educated at Newington College Wardens of Rhodes House Fellows of University College, Oxford Academic staff of the University of Calcutta Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature English justices of the peace Members of Lincoln's Inn Alumni of New College, Oxford Professors of Jurisprudence (University of Oxford)