George Frederic Allen

George Frederic Allen, 1903

Allan's wife Caroline Frances Allen, 1903

Trenton House, Oneida around 1870

Rectory Christ Church Parsonage , Wanganui

George Frederic Allen (born February 15, 1837 in London , † February 28, 1929 in Masterton ) was a New Zealand architect .

Allen was the son of the architect George Allen and his wife Maria Day. After training as an architect and surveyor, he found employment with the Great Barrier Kauri Timber and Copper Mining Company in New Zealand. He left England on April 5, 1860, and arrived in Auckland on July 19 . From here he traveled on to Great Barrier Island . A year and a half later, he returned to Auckland impoverished. Here he found a job as assistant principal of the Church of England Grammar School .

Allen began working as an architect and surveyor with his partner JO Barnard. Winning a design competition for St Matthew's Church earned them an offer from then Prime Minister William Fox , who hired her as a district surveyor for Wellington Province. Allen moved to Wellington in July 1862, but was transferred to Wanganui in November, which was to shape his later life.

His fiancée, who remained in England, Caroline Frances Hanson, came to New Zealand on board the Ganges and married him on October 21, 1863 in the St Matthew's Church in Auckland, which he designed. This union produced five children, six sons and one daughter. Two of the sons died as young children.

After more than three years in civil service, Allen went into business for himself. He worked as a surveyor for private properties in Papaiti and planned a new rectory. Due to the lack of commissions due to the armed conflicts with the indigenous people of the region, he founded a private school.

For four years he was a member of the colonial militia and took part with them in Major CC Rookes' relief mission for Pipiriki , which was besieged by the Maori .

All of them also devoted themselves to the Christian religion, Freemasonry and church music. He was a clerk at Christ Church and designed the furniture for the new church in 1866. He was a good organist, flautist and singer and founded the church choir. He was the co-founder, conductor and solo singer of the Wanganui Choral Society . Allen was a member of the Masonic Lodge Tongariro from 1866 , later he was chaplain and choir master of the Lodge St Andrew Kilwinning . He was the secretary of the Wanganui Volunteer Fire Department .

In 1867 he designed the Trenton House in Oneida for his friend JAH Burnett . After peace returned in 1869, Allen returned to his profession. He designed St. Stephen's Church in Marton .

As part of extensive survey work in the valleys of the Waitotara and Wanganui Rivers, he reached the upper reaches of the river and climbed Mount Ruapehu, Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Tongariro . In 1894 his descriptions of the route from Auckland over the Wanganui River to Wellington were published as Willis's guide book of new route for tourists .

Tourism began to develop in the central North Island in the 1890s. Allen put a summer camp midway on the stagecoach route from Waiouru to Taupo . On Waihohonu stream between the Mount Ruapehu and Mount Ngauruhoe located, it was a popular stop for travelers passing through. Everyone offered guided tours in the mountains and overnight accommodations.

The citizens of Wanganui honored him on October 11, 1889 with a purse full of sovereigns for his service to the community.

His wife Caroline died on January 10, 1903. On February 11, 1907, Allen married the widow Sarah Alice Thomas (née Edmeades) at St Peter's Church in Caversham , Dunedin . They moved to Masterton. Allen died here on February 28, 1929 at the age of 92.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Athol Kirk: Story: Allen, George Frederic in Te Ara the Encyclopedia of New Zealand , accessed January 6, 2015
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Obituary The later Mrs. George Allan Frederic. Wanganui Herald, Vol. XXXVII, Edition 10846, January 13, 1903, p. 5. Digitized at Papers Past