John Manchester Allen (3 August 1901 – 28 November 1941) was a New Zealand politician of the

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

. He also served in the Second World War and commanded the 21st Battalion from May 1941 until he was killed in action in Libya.

Biography

Allen was born in

Cheadle, Staffordshire Cheadle is a market town and civil parish in the Staffordshire Moorlands District of Staffordshire, England, with a population of 12,000 at the 2021 census. It is located between Uttoxeter, Leek, Ashbourne and Stoke-on-Trent. Dating back to ...

, England, in 1901. His father, John Candlish Allen, died in France in 1917 from wounds received in the First World War. His uncles were Stephen Allen and William Allen, and his grandfather was

William Shepherd Allen William Shepherd Allen (22 June 1831 – 15 January 1915) was an English Liberal politician. He also worked as a farmer and served as an MP in New Zealand. Biography Allen was born in Manchester. Cheadle. Allen was educated at Wadham College, ...

. He was educated at

King's College, Auckland King's College (Latin: ''Collegium Regis''; ), often informally referred to simply as Kings, is an independent secondary boarding and day school in New Zealand. It educates over 1000 pupils, aged 13 to 18 years. King's was originally a single s ...

, and at

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

where he graduated with MA and

LLB A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

degrees. He was a farmer in

Morrinsville Morrinsville () is a provincial town in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. Morrinsville is a service town for the local dairy industry; the area surrounding the town has the highest concentration of dairy cattle in New Zealand. ...

, and an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

lay reader In Anglicanism, a licensed lay minister (LLM) or lay reader (in some jurisdictions simply reader) is a person authorised by a bishop to lead certain Church service, services of worship (or parts of the service), to preach and to carry out pastoral ...

. He represented the Hauraki electorate from to 1941, when he died. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, he volunteered to serve with the

2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force The New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) was the title of the military forces sent from New Zealand to fight alongside other British Empire and Dominion troops during World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). Ultimately, the NZE ...

and was posted to 18th Battalion as its second-in-command. He was in

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

as commander of the 21st Battalion before being killed in action during an offensive in Libya. He was succeeded in the Hauraki electorate by

Andy Sutherland Andrew Sinclair Sutherland (13 September 1882 – 2 May 1961) was a New Zealand politician of the New Zealand National Party, National Party. Biography Sutherland was born in 1882 in Palmerston, New Zealand, Palmerston, Otago. He was a m ...

, who won the resulting .

Notes

References

* * * * 1901 births 1941 deaths People from Cheadle, Staffordshire Military personnel from Staffordshire English emigrants to New Zealand People from Morrinsville People educated at King's College, Auckland Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge 20th-century New Zealand farmers New Zealand National Party MPs Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates 20th-century New Zealand politicians New Zealand Anglicans Anglican lay readers New Zealand military personnel killed in World War II {{NewZealand-mil-bio-stub