James Allan (20 December 1856 – 26 January 1938) was a

draper Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. History Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period, ...

and a member of the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly h ...

Early life and business career

Allan was born in

Airdrie, North Lanarkshire Airdrie (; sco, Airdrie; gd, An t-Àrd Ruigh) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It lies on a plateau roughly 400 ft (130 m) above sea level, and is approximately 12 miles (19 km) east of Glasgow city centre. , the town had a ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, to parents Robert Allan and his wife Mary (née Hodge). Receiving his final education at

Andersonian University The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal c ...

, Allan started his working life as an apprentice draper to Daley & Co. in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

before arriving in Australia in 1879. Here he worked as an assistant for D. L. Brown & Co. and in 1882, along with Robert Stark formed Allan & Stark, drapers. The business started out at

South Brisbane South Brisbane is an inner southern Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , South Brisbane had a population of 7,196 people. Geography The suburb is on the southern bank of the Brisba ...

, but by 1895 business had so greatly increased that they moved to Queen Street, in the centre of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

. In 1911 Allan & Stark was formed into a private company with many of its employees having acquired an interest in it. In 1919 it became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( ...

and later incorporated the Civil Service Stores and also Stuparts Ltd, who were based in Maryborough. Their former Queen Street premises survives and is heritage-listed as the

Allan and Stark Building The Allan and Stark Building is a heritage-listed row of contiguous but not identical retail buildings located at 110 Queen Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The architect was Andrea Stombuco. It was also known ...

Political career

Allan was an alderman in the South Brisbane Municipal Council between 1892 and 1895. Representing the Ministerialists, he won the seat of Brisbane South at the 1909 state election. In 1912, he switched to the new electorate of Kurilpa but lost his seat to Labour's William Hartley in

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". * January ...

. During his time in parliament, Premier

William Kidston William Kidston (17 August 1849 – 25 October 1919) was an Australian bookseller, politician and Premier of Queensland, from January 1906 to November 1907 and again from February 1908 to February 1911. Early life William Kidston was born in Fa ...

was known to seek Allan's advice on financial policy.

Personal life

Allan was involved with several philanthropic organisations. He was actively involved with the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

and served a term as president of the organisation. In 1917 he was appointed honorary chief commissioner, treasurer, and chairman of the London executive committee of the YMCA army and navy work abroad. He served in World War I in England ad France from 1917 until after the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

. He was also a member of the Town Planning Association and a foundation member of Rotary in Queensland. He also took a keen interest in literature, authoring "A holiday ramble in new Zealand" and in 1915, he edited "Letters from a young Queenslander" and "Mesopotamia and India", the latter two being written by his son, Robert Marshall Allan about his experiences during World War I.Mesopotamia and India: a continuation of “Letters from a Young Queenslander”
— State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 31 May 2015. Robert Allan went on to be a professor of obstetrics at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

. On 4 June 1885, Allan married Eliza Balloch Stark at South Brisbane and together had two sons and two daughters. Allan died in Brisbane on

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip following days of exploration of Port ...

, 1938 and was privately interred.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allan, James Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1856 births 1938 deaths People from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire Scottish emigrants to Australia YMCA leaders Politicians from North Lanarkshire 19th-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian politicians Alumni of the University of Strathclyde Businesspeople from Brisbane Drapers