Benjamin Allen (c. 1732 – October 1791) was an English

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1768 to 1781. Allen was the son of John Allen MD FRS, of

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a large historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. Its population currently stands at around 41,276 as of 2022. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies alon ...

. He attended school in Bridgwater before in 1751 being admitted to

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wife ...

, aged nineteen. He entered the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1749 and was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1754. Allen became a member of the corporation of Bridgwater and after cultivating his connections was returned as one of the two

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

in the 1768 general election against the powerful Poulett interest. He was returned unopposed in

1774 Events January–March * January 21 – Mustafa III, List of Ottoman Sultans, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, dies and is succeeded by his brother Abdul Hamid I. * January 27 ** An angry crowd in Boston, Massachusetts seizes, tars, and f ...

, but had a contest in

1780 Events January–March * January 16 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Cape St. Vincent: British Admiral Sir George Rodney defeats a Spanish fleet. * February 19 – The legislature of New York votes to allow ...

. He was initially returned, but was unseated on an election petition in 1781. He then carried on as a barrister and as a member of the Bridgwater corporation. Allen died before 1792. His son

Jeffreys Allen Jefferys Allen (1760 – 23 August 1844) was a British politician and the Member of Parliament for Bridgwater from 1796 to 1804. See also * List of MPs in the first United Kingdom Parliament MPs in the first United Kingdom Parliament afte ...

was returned as one of the members for Bridgwater in 1796.

References

1740s births 1791 deaths People from Bridgwater Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub