Richard Allen (1803 - 1886)

Born 1803 in Harold's Cross, Dublin, Ireland

Died 19 Jan 1886 at about age 83 in Monkstown, County Dublin, Ireland

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Biography

Richard Allen was born in Ireland.

Richard was a Friend (Quaker)

Richard Allen is Notable.

Richard was an Irish Writer - Irish Writers Team.

Richard Allen (1803–1886) was a draper, a philanthropist and abolitionist in Dublin. Allen raised £20,000 to help the Irish famine by writing letters to America.

Allen was born in 1803 at Harold's Cross near Dublin, fourth child and second son, of the 15 children born to Edward Weston Allen and Ellen (nee Burton) Allen, a Quaker family. ^[1]

Allen was an orthodox Quaker and his business was in textiles but his interests were in reform, temperance and the abolition of slavery.

Richard Allen married first in 1828 to Ann Webb.

In 1837, Allen was one of three founding members, with James Haughton and Richard Davis Webb, of the Hibernian Antislavery Association. This was not the first antislavery association but it was acknowledged to be the most active. Allen served as the secretary of this association.

Allen founded the Irish Temperance and Literary Gazette" and used this publication to forward his ideas and those of the Anti-Slavery Association.

Opposition to slavery in Ireland had a long pedigree. As was the case in Britain, its most prominent Irish supporters were Protestant, notably Methodists, Quakers and Unitarians, and meetings were generally held in Nonconformist churches. One of the greatest contributions to the anti-slavery debate was made by the flamboyant and controversial Irish nationalist, Daniel O’Connell

Richard Allen's parents home is proposed to be a protected building, because Allen was brought up there and also because it became a Plymouth Brethren Orphangage around 1860.

In 1840 his portrait was included with other notables in a painting of the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London.

In 1846, Allen attended another World convention in London. This time the subject was temperance and Allen was one of the speakers. Allen noted that he had been visiting Dublin's Bridewell prison and considered that parts were becoming empty because of the increase in temperance. Famine was rife in Ireland and in 1847 Allen wrote letters to America to explain the people's plight. William Lloyd Garrison acknowledged the effect that Allen's letters to America had atttracted. He estimated that £20,000 pounds had been raised.

Richard Allen married second in 1873 to Mary Ann Savage from Chelmsford, England.

Richard died at his home, Brooklawn, Monkstown, Co. Dublin, 19 January 1886, 83 yrs, married, merchant, reported by nephew Henry J. Allen. ^[2]

The will of Richard Allen late of Lower Sackville st, Dublin and Stradbrook, Co Dublin Woollen Merchant who died 19 Jan 1886 at latter place was proved 17 Mar 1886 at the Principal Registry by Mary Ann Marriage Allen of Brooklawn widow and Henry John Allen of Lower Sackville st, Dublin woollen merchant and Herbert Marriage of Moulsham Lodge Chelmsford County Essex, farmer, the executors. Effects £44,533.

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Sources

1. ↑ Richard Allen, Contributed by Andrews, Helen https://www.dib.ie/biography/allen-richard-a0116
2. ↑ https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1886/06262/4793576.pdf

See also:

• Richard Allen (abolitionist) Wikipedia
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