Reginald Clifford Allen, 1st Baron Allen of Hurtwood (9 May 1889 – 3 March 1939), known as Clifford Allen, was a British

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, leading member of the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

(ILP), and prominent

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

Early life and education

The son of Walter Allen, a draper, Reginald Clifford Allen was born in Newport, then in

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. The family later moved to Bristol, on account of Walter's business. Allen was educated at

Berkhamsted School Berkhamsted School is an independent day school in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England. The present school was formed in 1997 by the amalgamation of the original Berkhamsted School, founded in 1541 by John Incent, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, ...

University College, Bristol University College, Bristol was an educational institution which existed from 1876 to 1909. It was the predecessor institution to the University of Bristol, which gained a royal charter in 1909. During its time the college mainly served the midd ...

and, from 1908 to 1911, at

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite ...

. Having initially identified as a Conservative, in his final year at Cambridge he was chair of the university's Fabian Society.

Career

Shortly after coming down from Cambridge with a third-class degree, he was made Secretary and then General Manager of the '' Daily Citizen'' between 1911 and 1915. He was Chairman of the

No-Conscription Fellowship The No-Conscription Fellowship was a British pacifism, pacifist organization which was founded in London by Fenner Brockway, Baron Brockway, Fenner Brockway and Clifford Allen, 1st Baron Allen of Hurtwood, Clifford Allen on 27 November 1914, aft ...

in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and was imprisoned as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...

three times. In 1917 he became so ill that he was released from prison where he set up house with

Catherine Marshall Catherine Sarah Wood Marshall LeSourd (27 September 1914 – 18 March 1983) was an American author of nonfiction, inspirational, and fiction works. She was the wife of well-known minister Peter Marshall. Biography Marshall was born in Johnson ...

who was also ill from overwork. Marshall hoped that their relationship would continue but Allen ended their partnership.Jo Vellacott, 'Marshall, Catherine Elizabeth (1880–1961)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 31 Aug 2017
/ref> After the war he was Treasurer and Chairman of the

between 1922 and 1926, Chairman of the ''

New Leader ''The New Leader'' (1924–2010) was an American political and cultural magazine. History ''The New Leader'' began in 1924 under a group of figures associated with the Socialist Party of America, such as Eugene V. Debs and Norman Thomas. It was p ...

'' between 1922 and 1926 and director of the '' Daily Herald'' between 1925 and 1930. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Allen of Hurtwood, of Hurtwood in the County of

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, on 18 January 1932, to boost

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Ramsay MacDonald's National Labour representation in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

. In 1934 he co-founded the Next Five Years Group seeking a progressive centre-left re-alignment in British politics. In January 1935 Allen wrote of German dictator

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

after he had met him: Despite his championing of the cause of

appeasement Appeasement in an international context is a diplomatic policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power in order to avoid conflict. The term is most often applied to the foreign policy of the UK governm ...

, he strongly condemned Nazi brutality and anti-semitism. For instance, in the House of Lords in July 1938 he declared: His efforts to intercede with the German government trying to save

Hans Litten Hans Achim Litten (19 June 1903 – 5 February 1938) was a German lawyer who represented opponents of the Nazis at important political trials between 1929 and 1932, defending the rights of workers during the Weimar Republic. During one trial i ...

, a prominent opponent of the Nazi regime, from Dachau concentration camp were however unsuccessful.Arthur Marwick, ''Clifford Allen - The Open Conspirator'' London: Oliver & Boyd, 1964. pp.166-174

Personal life

Clifford Allen married Marjory Gill on 17 December 1921. They had one child, a daughter born in 1922, Joan Collete, known as Polly. Never having fully recovered from the privations of his imprisonment during the First World War when he had contracted tuberculosis, Lord Allen of Hurtwood died in a sanatorium in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

in 1939, aged 49, the peerage becoming extinct.

Publications

''Is Germany right and Britain wrong?''
Chelsea : London : s.n., 1914. *''Executive committee report to the members on the progress of the fellowship'', No-Conscription Fellowship. London : No-Conscription Fellowship, 1915. *''Presidential address by Clifford Allen to the National Convention of the No-Conscription Fellowship, 27 November 1915'', No-Conscription Fellowship. London : National Labour Press, 1916. *''Why I still resist: Leaflet (No-Conscription Fellowship), no. 5.'', No-Conscription Fellowship, Pelican Press, London : Printed for the No-Conscription Fellowship, 1917. *''Putting socialism into practice : the President address'', London : Independent Labour Party, 1924. *''The I.L.P. and Revolution ... Reprinted from the Socialist Review.'', London : I.L.P. Publication Dept., 1925. *''Socialism & the next Labour Government. The presidential address ... at the I.L.P. Annual Conference, 1925.'',Independent Labour Party: London, 1925. *''Labour's Future at Stake'', London : G. Allen & Unwin, 1932. *''Britain's political future; a plea for liberty and leadership'', London, New York tc.Longmans, Green, 1934. *''Effective pacifism'', London : League of Nations Union, 1934.
''The next five years : an essay in political agreement''
with W Arnold Forster; A Barratt Brown; et al. London : Macmillan, 1935. *''We did not fight : 1914-18 experiences of war resisters'', edited by Julian Bell ; with a foreword by H.R.L. Sheppard ; contrib. by Lord Allen of Hurtwood ...

t al. T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is deri ...

London, 1935. *''Peace in Our Time. An appeal to the International Peace Conference of June 16, 1936.'' London : Chatto & Windus, 1936. *''The price of European peace'', with Frank Ongley Darvall; Jan Christiaan Smuts. London .a.: Hodge, 1937.

References

External links