ALLEN, GEORGE WIGRAM (b. Surry Hills, NSW, 16 May 1824; d. Glebe, NSW, 23 July 1885). Solicitor, politician, philanthropist.

Educated at W T Cape's school and the Sydney College and articled in 1841 to his father George Allen (q.v.), George Wigram Allen was admitted a solicitor in 1846, became his father's partner in 1847 and president of the Law Institute of NSW in 1870: as Allen, Allen and Hemsley (1894), the firm still practises. On his marriage in July 1851 to Marian, daughter of the Rev W. B. Boyce (q.v.), he built 'Strathmore' in the Glebe; after 1881 he magnificently enlarged his father's mansion, 'Toxteth Park'. Founding mayor of The Glebe in 1859-77, he was appointed to the Legislative Council in 1860-1. In 1869-82 he represented The Glebe in the Legislative Assembly and was Minister for Justice and Public Instruction in 1873-5; speaker in 1875-82, he was knighted in 1877 and made KCMG in 1884.

Allen devoted much of his great wealth to education, especially secondary and tertiary education. In 1853-67 he was a commissioner of the Board of National Education in NSW. An advocate of the incorporation of the Sydney Grammar School as a non-denominational school, he was an original trustee in 1857 and endowed scholarships both there and at Newington College, whose buildings at Stanmore he financed in 1870-80. A member of the senate of the University of Sydney in 1877-85, his benefactions in 1878 and 1882 established the Wigram Allen scholarships in mathematics and law. A practising Wesleyan Methodist, he supported munificently the CMS and BFBS, of which he was NSW president. Lady Allen was a founder of the hoarding out system for orphans from the Benevolent Asylum, and of the Children's Hospital, Glebe (now the Royal Alexandra).

J. Colwell, The illustrated history of Methodism (Sydney, 1904); D. S. Macmillan, Newington College, 1863-1963 (Sydney, 1963); C Turney, Grammar 1819-1988 (Sydney, 19S9); SMH 24, 27 July 1885; Sydneian Aug 1885

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