View source for Clifford Allen, 1st Baron Allen of Hurtwood

{{Short description|British politician (1889–1939)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix   = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name               = The Lord Allen of Hurtwood
|
| native_name        =
| native_name_lang   =
| honorific-suffix   =
| image              = Clifford_Allen,_1st_Baron_Allen_of_Hurtwood.jpg
| imagesize          =
| smallimage         = <!--If this is specified, "image" should not be.-->
| alt                =
| caption            =
| office             = [[Independent Labour Party|Chairman of the Independent Labour Party]]
| term_start         = 1922
| term_end           = 1926
| predecessor        = [[Richard Collingham Wallhead]]
| successor          = [[James Maxton]]
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1889|5|9|df=yes}}
| birth_place        = [[Newport, Wales|Newport]], [[Wales]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1939|03|03|1889|5|9|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [[Switzerland]]
| restingplace       =
| restingplacecoordinates =
| birthname          =
| citizenship        =
| nationality        = British
| party              = [[Independent Labour Party]]
| otherparty         =  <!--For additional political affiliations-->
| spouse             = [[Marjory Allen, Lady Allen of Hurtwood]]
| partner            =  <!--For those with a domestic partner and not married-->
| relations          =
| children           =
| parents            =
| residence          =
| education          =
| alma_mater         = [[Peterhouse, Cambridge]].
| occupation         =
| profession         =
| cabinet            =
}}
'''Reginald Clifford Allen, 1st Baron Allen of Hurtwood''' (9 May 1889 – 3 March 1939), known as '''Clifford Allen''', was a British [[politician]], leading member of the [[Independent Labour Party]] (ILP), and prominent [[pacifism|pacifist]].
==Early life and education==
The son of Walter Allen, a draper, Reginald Clifford Allen was born in [[Newport, Wales|Newport]], then in [[Monmouthshire]] in [[Wales]]. The family later moved to Bristol, on account of Walter's business. Allen was educated at [[Berkhamsted School]], [[University of Bristol|University College, Bristol]] and, from 1908 to 1911, at [[Peterhouse, Cambridge]]. Having initially identified as a Conservative, in his final year at Cambridge he was chair of the [[Cambridge Universities Labour Club|university's Fabian Society]].
==Career==
Shortly after coming down from Cambridge with a third-class degree, he was made Secretary and then General Manager of the ''[[Daily Citizen (British newspaper)|Daily Citizen]]'' between 1911 and 1915. He was Chairman of the [[No Conscription Fellowship|No-Conscription Fellowship]] in the [[First World War]], and was imprisoned as a [[conscientious objector]] three times. In 1917 he became so ill that he was released from prison where he set up house with [[Catherine Marshall (suffragette)|Catherine Marshall]] who was also ill from overwork. Marshall hoped that their relationship would continue but Allen ended their partnership.<ref name=cath>Jo Vellacott, 'Marshall, Catherine Elizabeth (1880–1961)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/38527, accessed 31 Aug 2017]</ref>
After the war he was Treasurer and Chairman of the [[Independent Labour Party]] between 1922 and 1926, Chairman of the ''[[Labour Leader|New Leader]]'' between 1922 and 1926 and director of the ''[[Daily Herald (UK newspaper)|Daily Herald]]'' between 1925 and 1930.
He was raised to the peerage as '''Baron Allen of Hurtwood''', of Hurtwood in the County of [[Surrey]], on 18 January 1932,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=33792 |date=22 January 1932 |page=484 }}</ref> to boost [[Prime Minister]] [[Ramsay MacDonald]]'s [[National Labour Organisation|National Labour]] representation in the [[House of Lords]]. In 1934 he co-founded the [[Next Five Years Group]] seeking a progressive centre-left re-alignment in British politics.
In January 1935 Allen wrote of German dictator [[Adolf Hitler]] after he had met him: {{blockquote|I believe Herr Hitler's position in the country is unassailable. His sincerity is tremendous...I am convinced he genuinely desires peace...Germany's aggressive words and warlike phrases do not represent her intentions.<ref>Martin Gilbert, ''Plough My Own Furrow. The Story of Lord Allen of Hurtwood as told through his own writings and correspondence'' (London: Longmans, 1965), pp. 358-359.</ref>}}
Despite his championing of the cause of [[appeasement]], he strongly condemned Nazi brutality and anti-semitism. For instance, in the House of Lords in July 1938 he declared:
His efforts to intercede with the German government trying to save [[Hans Litten]], a prominent opponent of the Nazi regime, from Dachau concentration camp were however unsuccessful.<ref>Arthur Marwick, ''Clifford Allen - The Open Conspirator''  London: Oliver & Boyd, 1964. pp.166-174</ref>
==Personal life==
{{Unsourced|section|date=January 2023}}
Clifford Allen married [[Marjory Allen, Lady Allen of Hurtwood|Marjory Gill]] on 17 December 1921. They had one child, a daughter born in 1922, Joan Collete, known as Polly. Never having fully recovered from the privations of his imprisonment during the First World War when he had contracted tuberculosis, Lord Allen of Hurtwood died in a sanatorium in [[Switzerland]] in 1939, aged 49, the peerage becoming extinct.
==Publications==
*[http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/7637982 ''Is Germany right and Britain wrong?''], Chelsea : London : s.n., 1914.
*''Executive committee report to the members on the progress of the fellowship'', No-Conscription Fellowship. London : No-Conscription Fellowship, 1915.
*''Presidential address by Clifford Allen to the National Convention of the No-Conscription Fellowship, 27 November 1915'', No-Conscription Fellowship. London : National Labour Press, 1916.
*''Why I still resist: Leaflet (No-Conscription Fellowship), no. 5.'', No-Conscription Fellowship, Pelican Press, London : Printed for the No-Conscription Fellowship, 1917.
*''Putting socialism into practice : the President address'', London : Independent Labour Party, 1924.
*''The I.L.P. and Revolution ... Reprinted from the Socialist Review.'', London : I.L.P. Publication Dept., 1925.
*''Socialism & the next Labour Government. The presidential address ... at the I.L.P. Annual Conference, 1925.'',Independent Labour Party: London, 1925.
*''Labour's Future at Stake'', London : G. Allen & Unwin, 1932.
*''Britain's political future; a plea for liberty and leadership'', London, New York [etc.] Longmans, Green, 1934.
*''Effective pacifism'', London : League of Nations Union, 1934.
*[https://archive.org/details/nextfiveyears031943mbp ''The next five years : an essay in political agreement''], with W Arnold Forster; A Barratt Brown; et al. London : Macmillan, 1935.
*''We did not fight : 1914-18 experiences of war resisters'', edited by Julian Bell ; with a foreword by H.R.L. Sheppard ; contrib. by Lord Allen of Hurtwood ... [et al.]. London, 1935.
*''Peace in Our Time. An appeal to the International Peace Conference of June 16, 1936.'' London : Chatto & Windus, 1936.
*''The price of European peace'', with Frank Ongley Darvall; Jan Christiaan Smuts. London [u.a.] : Hodge, 1937.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
*David Boulton: ''Objection Overruled'', Macgibbon & Kee, 1967
*Martin Gilbert: "Plough My Own Furrow: The Story of Lord Allen of Hurtwood as told through his own writings and correspondence", London: Longmans, 1965
*Thomas C Kennedy: ''The hound of conscience : a history of the No-Conscription Fellowship, 1914-1919'', Fayetteville : University of Arkansas Press, 1981 {{ISBN|0-938626-01-9}}
*Arthur Marwick: ''Clifford Allen: The Open Conspirator'', Oliver & Boyd, 1964
==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://archive.today/20140508140518/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/search/hurtwood?sort=date ''Hansard 1803–2005'': contributions in Parliament by or in reference to Lord Allen of Hurtwood]
* [http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/10th-march-1939/6/clifford-allens-death-leaves-a-strange-blank-in-pu Obituary in ''The Spectator'', dated 10 March 1939]
* [http://www.spartacus-educational.com/TUallen.htm Page at ''Spartacus'']
* [http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/article.jsp?articleid=30390&back= Entry at ''Dictionary of National Biography'']
* {{PM20|FID=pe/000373}}
{{S-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{succession box|title=London Division representative on the [[Independent Labour Party]] National Administrative Council|years=1920&ndash;1921|before=[[Herbert Witard]]|after=[[Ernest E. Hunter]]}}
{{succession box
| title  = [[Independent Labour Party|Chairman of the Independent Labour Party]]
| years  = 1922&ndash;1926
| before = [[Richard Collingham Wallhead]]
| after  = [[James Maxton]]
}}
{{s-reg|uk}}
{{s-new|creation}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Baron Allen of Hurtwood]] | years=1932&ndash;1939}}
{{s-non|reason=Extinct}}
{{S-end}}
{{Independent Labour Party}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen of Hurtwood, Clifford Allen, 1st Baronet}}
[[Category:1889 births|Allen of Hurtwood, Reginald Allen, 1st Baron]]
[[Category:1939 deaths|Allen of Hurtwood, Reginald Allen, 1st Baron]]
[[Category:Anglican pacifists]]
[[Category:Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom|Allen of Hurtwood, Reginald Clifford Allen, 1st Baron]]
[[Category:British conscientious objectors]]
[[Category:British anti–World War I activists]]
[[Category:Independent Labour Party National Administrative Committee members]]
[[Category:Members of the Executive of the Labour and Socialist International]]
[[Category:Members of the Fabian Society]]
[[Category:National Labour (UK) politicians]]
[[Category:People educated at Berkhamsted School]]
[[Category:Barons created by George V]]