Hanson-Allen family

Alfred Henry Allen

Are these two Alfred Allens the same man?

The upper photo is of Alfred Henry Allen, the fifth child of George and Maria Allen of London. The lower photo is of Alfred Allen, a founder member of The Postal Microsopical Society (UK), which was formed in 1873 as The Postal Micro-Cabinet Club. He also edited their journal. At the time the society was formed, he was living in the small village of Felstead, in Essex, which is noted as the birth-place of the Hanson children, a family into which two of Alfred's siblings married. Rev. G.L. Hanson had been the village's vicar at that time. 

It is clear that the above two Alfred Allens bear an amazing similarity to each other.

We know that 'our' one was christened on 20 February 1846.  We also know that in the obituary of his sister Julia, he was described as Dr. Alfred H. Allen, one of the famous chemists and doctors in England, and as having published many authoritative papers. 

Some biographical material was published on the lower Alfred Allen, in the book The History of the Postal Microscopical Society, which was written by R.H. Sessions and published by the Quekett Microscopical Club for the Society's centenary in 1973. This includes the following extract:

"The (Society's) Journal continued under the editorship of Alfred Allen until 1897, although for two years (1890-1891) his friend the Rev. W. Spiers shared the editorship with him. The name was changed in 1888 to The International Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science and the circulation was extended in America and Canada. The reports of the Society's meetings had been dropped from the Journal by 1885 and from then on, apart from 'Selections from the Society's Notebooks' it ceased to become so closely linked with the Society as it had been at its inception.

"Ill-health beset the Editor in his last year, and the support for the re-styled Journal waned until in 1897 he writes in Volume 16, '... for several years the result of the sales has not been sufficient to pay the printer's bills, and this year I feel myself so far in arrears that I dare go on no further.'

"So ended the Society's Journal and with it some prophesied that the end of the Society itself was not far away. That prophesy was, fortunately, to prove unfounded.

"The follow year dealt another bitter blow with the death at Bath on 24 March of Alfred Allen : he was 65. Mrs Allen lived on at the old address, 1 Cambridge Place, until 1923 when the occupant is shown as Miss E.M. Allen until 1947. Little seems to be known of Allen's profession. The local records at Bath give no details, although from some of the exchange advertisements in the old Science-Gossip he appears to have been interested in slides of crystalline chemicals. An obituary in the Bath Chronicle of 28 July 1898 mentions that he had been a member of the Bath Microscopical Society, having filled the office of President and contributed many papers on entomological researches."

The only clash is their ages. 'Our' Alfred was born in late 1845 or early 1846, so would have been about 52 years old on 24 March 1898, when the 'other' one died at the apparent age of 65.

Alfred Allen's Microscope slides

William ('Bill') Ells, of England, has collected over 24 of Alfred Allen's microscope slides and these may be viewed, with explanations, on a page on the website of Microscopy UK. Bill Ells has kindly supplied the above photo and information in order to help sort out the 'Alfred Allen mystery'. Twenty-four of Bill's slides have the name of 'Alfred Allen, Felstead' printed on them. Another, dated 31 December 1891, has had the name etc. missing. Bill thinks this may indicate that it was produced after Allen had moved to Bath.

The slides range from pieces of horse and cow hoof, mint rust, butterfly wing, to pieces of tree parts. Bill thinks they were probably prepared for entertainment value, as a pastime, rather than for research purposes. For this reason their paper coverings are more attractive than usual. Evidently this decorative treatment was a common at that time.