Reginald Charles Allen (2 July 1858 in

Glebe, New South Wales Glebe is an inner-western suburb of Sydney. Glebe is located southwest of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney, in the Inner West region. Glebe is surrounded by Blackwattle Ba ...

– 2 May 1952 in Sydney) was an Australian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

er who played in one Test match against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in 1887. Allen played for

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and was top scorer in the first innings of the state match against the England team – under the name "A. Shaw's XI" – that immediately preceded the second Test. He batted at number three in his only Test, scored 14 and 30, and took two catches. In his second innings, he was caught by one of his own side, Charlie Turner, who was fielding as a substitute for England. His obituary in

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

in 1953 says that he turned down the opportunity to tour England in 1888 under the captaincy of Percy McDonnell. Allen, who attended Sydney Grammar School, was a successful scholar. He attained the highest mark in the New South Wales Public Examinations in his final year at school, and was later awarded the University Medal at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one o ...

. Although he was not athletic in build, he was also a successful all-round sportsman, representing Sydney University's First Grade Rugby Union team, and playing in the New South Wales Open Tennis Championship (which was then entirely amateur). He became an enthusiastic and moderately successful breeder and owner of racehorses. His father was George Wigram Allen, a lawyer and politician. After graduating from university, Allen joined his father's law firm (now known as Allens), of which he remained a partner for several decades. He was the uncle of the England Test captain Gubby Allen, who was born in Australia. Reginald Allen married Edith Muriel Grubb in Franklin, Tasmania, in April 1906. He died in 1952 and his funeral proceeded from St Stephen's Church in Macquarie Street to the Northern Suburbs Crematorium.

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* * 1858 births 1952 deaths People educated at Sydney Grammar School Sydney Law School alumni Australia Test cricketers New South Wales cricketers Australian cricketers Cricketers from Sydney 19th-century Australian lawyers 20th-century Australian lawyers {{Australia-cricket-bio-1850s-stub