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This is the earliest known photo, with a handwritten inscription "Grant Allen" on the back. He paid a hasty visit to his parents in Canada from England in the summer of 1867, before going up to Merton College, Oxford. He was 19 then. This photo was certainly taken in Ontario and was discovered there, so he may have left it as a keepsake.
This photo is of Harry Allen, GA's only brother. It was taken in Bayswater, London. Little is known of him except that he died before GA in India.
Merton College, Oxford, the undergraduates in 1870. GA is probably not in this photo as he suspended his studies that year; however, the figure in the centre at the rear does look rather like him. By and large, these students look more raffish that studious: GA had the reputation of being one of the "reading men". The academic reputation of Merton was not high.
This photo of GA in his late 20s was taken in Kingston. It must have been taken either in 1874 (when GA apparently spent his summer leave with his parents, while working in Jamaica); or possibly in 1876, when he visited them after his Jamaican job collapsed and he was en route for London. The inscription on the back implies it was given to an 'Elizabeth' by Carolina (or Caroline) Machar, the married name of GA's sister, who was the wife of one of the founders of Queen's University.
GA's first job after leaving Oxford was as a teacher at Brighton College, a private school. He is at the very back of the group, standing on the step. (The doorway still exists unaltered.) He was 23 and married to his first wife who was dying of tuberculosis. He lasted only a term at Brighton, and judging by his autobiographical novel Philistia, the experience wasn't happy.
GA's family home (probably a flat) at 22 Bonchurch St, Ladbroke Grove, London when he was establishing himself as a journalist in 1878-9.
GA's first family house, in Dorking, was a square, double-fronted villa in the fashionable Queen Anne style. He lived here for 12 years in the 80s, fully establishing himself as a freelance writer. Recently it stood, abandoned and derelict, just off the Horsham Road in a hollow in the grounds of a hospital. It has since been demolished.
Allen working at his Royal Bar-Lock Typewriter, probably at The Croft. He was one of the first authors to use a typewriter exclusively.
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