William Johnston Allen (1835 – 12 June 1915) was an Irish-born Australian politician.
Biography
William Johnston Allen was born in Belfast, Ireland, the eldest child of Ruth Sayers Johnston and soap manufacturer
William Bell Allen,
later a member of the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...
, as the member for
Williams from 1860 until 1864.
His father arrived in
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
in 1841, and his mother brought William and his sister Eliza Allen, in 1844.
When he grew older, William joined his father in the soap and candle business.
On 21 April 1868 he married Edith Isabella Crew; they had eight children.
Legislative Assembly
William unsuccessfully stood for election to the Legislative Assembly for the
district of Paddington, in 1880 for the then two member district,
1882,
and 1887 as a member of the
Protectionist Party
The Protectionist Party, also known as the Protectionist Liberal Party or Liberal Protectionist Party, was an Politics of Australia, Australian political party, formally organised from 1887 until 1909, with policies centred on protectionism. T ...
. His brother
Alfred also stood for Paddington in 1887 but for the
Free Trade Party
The Free Trade Party (FTP), officially known as the Free Trade and Liberal Association and also referred to as the Revenue Tariff Party in some states, was an Australian political party. It was formally organised in 1887 in New South Wales, in ...
and was elected,
second of three Free Trade members.
In 1888 William was narrowly elected in a
by-election for Paddington in 1888,
in which three Free Trade members stood for the single vacancy, splitting the vote.
thereby sitting on the opposite side of the Legislative Assembly to Alfred.
William was defeated in 1889 while Alfred was re-elected.
Alfred was re-elected in 1891 and William again campaigned unsuccessfully against him.
In 1895 the brothers both stood for the single member
district of Waverley, however neither were elected.
Death
Allen died in
Waverley on .
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, William Johnston
1835 births
1915 deaths
Colony of New South Wales politicians
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Protectionist Party politicians