George Allen
5th Mayor of Wellington
In office
9 May 1879 – 29 May 1879
Preceded byJoe Dransfield
Succeeded byWilliam Hutchison
Personal details
Born1814
Deal, Kent, England
Died10 May 1899
Wellington, New Zealand
OccupationBoat builder

George Allen JP (1814 – 10 May 1899) was Mayor of Wellington, New Zealand, for three weeks in 1879.[1]

Biography

Early life and career

Allen was originally a Deal boatbuilder. He migrated to Wellington on the Catherine Stuart Forbes in 1841. Apart from living in the Hutt for eight years he spent all his life in Wellington. He was a boat builder by profession and had a business in Thorndon. He was also the Chairman of Directors of the Trust and Loan Company until his death.

He died on 10 May 1899 aged almost 85 at his residence in Wellington after a heart attack.[2] Allen was a member of the Court Sir George Grey AOF.[3] He was married and had five daughters and four sons. His wife died in 1888.[4]

Civic service

He was a member of the Wellington Provincial Council from 1861 to 1865 for the City of Wellington electorate.[5] From 1876 to 1883, and again from 1887 to 1888, Allen served as a Wellington City Councillor.[6] He was noted as being an attentive and zealous councillor. For a brief period in 1879 he was acting mayor after Joe Dransfield resigned until a by-election could be held which he did not contest.[7] At the scheduled November 1879 election he did stand but was defeated by mayor William Hutchison.[8] At the 1884 election he stood for mayor again, but polled minimal support.[9] He was also a hospital trustee.

Allen Street in Wellington is named after him.[10]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Sudden death of Mr G Allen". The Evening Post. Vol. LVII, no. 109. 10 May 1899. p. 6.
  2. ↑ "Death". The Evening Post. Vol. LVII, no. 110. 11 May 1899. p. 6.
  3. ↑ "Local and general". The Evening Post. Vol. LVII, no. 121. 24 May 1899. p. 4.
  4. ↑ "City Council". The New Zealand Times. Vol. L, no. 8366. 20 April 1888. p. 2.
  5. ↑ Scholefield, Guy (1950) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 (3rd ed.). Wellington: Govt. Printer. p. 237.
  6. ↑ Betts 1970, p. 259.
  7. ↑ Betts 1970, p. 262.
  8. ↑ "Wellington City Council - Election of Mayor". The New Zealand Times. Vol. XXXIV, no. 5824. 28 November 1879. p. 3.
  9. ↑ "The Mayoral Elections". The New Zealand Times. Vol. XLIII, no. 7342. 5 December 1884. p. 6.
  10. ↑ Irvine-Smith 1948, p. 109.

References

  • Betts, George (1970). Betts on Wellington: A City and its Politics. Wellington: A. H. & A. W. Reed Ltd. ISBN 0 589 00469 7.
  • Irvine-Smith, F. L. (1948). The Streets of My City. Wellington: A. H. & A. W. Reed.
  • No Mean City by Stuart Perry (1969, Wellington City Council) includes a paragraph and a portrait or photo for each mayor.


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