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1844-1914
Early life
Henry was born on 17th February 1844 at 13 Prince’s Court, Storey’s Gate, Westminster (very close to the Houses of Parliament). His parents were William Allen and his wife Eliza Green. On the birth register, father William is described as an Agent Accountant.
The 1851 Census records Henry with his family at 2 Upper Crown Street, Westminster, revealing that he had an elder brother William and a sister Sarah. Father William’s occupation was “Clerk in an office”.
By 1859, the family had moved south of the river, to Mead Row in Lambeth. Brother William was married that year to Charlotte Turner, describing his occupation as an army accoutrement maker, and father William’s occupation was recorded as “timekeeper”.
The 1861 Census finds Henry at 12 Mead Row with mother Eliza and a girl servant (Emma Record). Brother William and his wife Charlotte are also there with their daughter Ellen but recorded as a separate household. (Father William is not with them: he is in lodgings elsewhere in Lambeth, at 13 Rutland Street, occupation “timekeeper GWR”). In this census both brothers are harness makers.
Marriage and children
In June 1864 Henry married Eliazabeth Avery at St James’ church in Bermondsey. He records that he is an accoutrement maker and that his father William is dead. Later that year their daughter Eliza was born, the first of many children. In 1912 Henry claimed to have fathered 14 children, of whom 9 had died and 5 were surviving. We have only been able to trace 9 birth registrations – more on this later.
Two changes of career, and insolvency
In the 1871 Census Henry’s occupation is “Painter”. He is with his wife and family in George Terrace, Neckinger Road, Bermondsey. But later in this decade he is back working with leather, as a boot and shoe manufacturer and retailer at 718 Old Kent Road.
In 1878 he was in debt:
He must have been successful in reaching agreement with his creditors, for he remained in business at 718, and later 719, Old Kent Road for many years.
1889: Tragedy strikes
On 30 December 1889 Henry’s youngest child Charles died when his night clothes caught fire:
The South London Press reported on the inquest:
A change of premises
Across the road from Henry, at 719 Old Kent Road, there was another boot and shoe manufacturer and retailer: Thomas Wallman. In 1893 he was coming to an arrangement with his creditors:
It appears that Henry took over the Wallman’s business in 1893/4 and moved across the road to number 719.
Death of wife Elizabeth
Henry’s wife Elizabeth died at 719 Old Kent Road on 19th January 1895.
The business fails
By 1895 the business was sinking under the weight of debt, and Henry too was entering into a Deed of Arrangement with his creditors:
Shortly after this, sometime in 1895, Henry’s business folded. We don’t know where Henry went or what he did for the next 15 years. He is not to be found in the 1901 Census.
Records of the Constance Road workhouse show that a Henry Allen, a widower and bootmaker, of roughly the right age, was transferred in from Gordon Road no fewer than 24 times between January 1903 and August 1904, his condition described variously as “destitute” and “senectus”.
Insanity
The next definite sighting of Henry is in the Constance Road workhouse in the 1911 Census. We do not know when he was admitted on that occasion but we do know that he left in February 1912 when he was diagnosed as insane and admitted to Horton Asylum. The certifying doctor recorded the facts of his examination:
He makes all manner of purposeless movements, twisting his head arms and legs in all directions. He states that a large sum of money £150,000 is about to come to him. He has been an inmate of this workhouse for many months and I know him to be a pauper.
He had also been found interfering with gas in the wards on many occasions.
Death
Henry died at Horton on 2nd October 1914. Cause of death: cerebral atrophy and general arterio-sclerosis.
What became of his children?
These are the children that we know of:
| Child | Year born | |
| Eliza Elizabeth | 1864 | Married Arnold Boulden in 1896 |
| Henry | 1866 | Married Annie Battersby in 1891, and after her death he married Amy Ada Belle in 1904 |
| Alfred | 1868 | Presume died in infancy |
| Emily | 1870 | Married Arthur Williams in 1905 |
| Alice Amelia | 1872 | Married Samuel Hargrove in 1898 |
| Sophia | 1874 | Presume died in infancy |
| Frederick | 1876 | Probable death in 1883 |
| Eleanor | 1878 | Married James Belle in 1903 |
| Ada | 1881 | Presume died in infancy |
| Florence | 1881 | Presume died in infancy |
| Charles | 1885 | Died 1890 (fire) |
