Norwood Francis Allman (July 23, 1893 – February 28, 1987) was a China-based American lawyer, consul, newspaperman and judge and also served as a member of the

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

Municipal Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

from 1940 to 1942. During World War II he served in the OSS in charge of Far East Counter-intelligence and later worked for the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

Early life

Allman was born on 24 July 1893, in

Union Hall, Virginia Union Hall is a census-designated place (CDP) in Franklin County, Virginia, United States. The population estimate was approximately 1,091 according to a census in 2018. It is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Union Ha ...

. Allman attended the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

for one year before sitting the consular exam.

Consular career in China

Allman was appointed

student interpreter Student interpreter was, historically, an entry-level position in the British and American diplomatic and consular service, principally in China, Japan, Siam and, in the case of the United States, Turkey. It is no longer used as a title. A number o ...

in the American

legation A legation was a diplomatic representative office of lower rank than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an ambassador, a legation was headed by a Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, minister. Ambassadors diplomatic rank, out ...

Peking } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

in 1915, and served as a consular officer in various locations finally serving as consul in

from 1921 to 1924. During that time, he also sat as an assessor (at the time, effectively a co-judge) on the International Mixed Court.

Marriage

Allman married Mary Louise Hamilton on 12 August 1920 in

Qingdao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

. They had three children.

Shanghai

In 1924, having been admitted to practice before the

United States Court for China The United States Court for China was a United States district court that had extraterritorial jurisdiction over U.S. citizens in China. It existed from 1906 to 1943 and had jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters, with appeals taken to the U ...

, Allman retired from consular service and practised law in Shanghai. He also served as honorary Mexican consul in Shanghai. From 1937, he took over the running of as the editor of the Chinese language '' Shun Pao'' newspaper. He was placed on a Japanese black list because of the paper's editorial policies. In 1940, he was elected a member

Shanghai Municipal Council The Shanghai International Settlement () originated from the merger in the year 1863 of the British Concession (Shanghai), British and American Concession (Shanghai), American list of former foreign enclaves in China, enclaves in Shanghai, i ...

. He was in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

on business when

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

started and was interned in

Stanley Internment Camp Stanley Internment Camp () was a civilian internment camp in Hong Kong during the Second World War. Located in Stanley, on the southern end of Hong Kong Island, it was used by the Japanese imperial forces to hold non- Chinese enemy nationals a ...

. In 1943, he published a book, ''Shanghai Lawyer'', about his career in China. After being repatriated, he served in the

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...

during the war and continued to work for the

after the war.

Life in America

Allman left China in 1950 and returned to America. He was a broadcaster in America for a number of years.

Death

Allman died on 28 February 1987, in

Carlisle, Pennsylvania Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

.New York Times, March 2, 1987

References

External links

Shanghai Lawyer

Laura Moorhead – Norwood Allman, the CIA and Representations of Intelligence
talk by Laura Moorhead on Allman
Blog posts on Allman's time in the OSS
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allman, Norwood 20th-century American lawyers History of Shanghai People from Franklin County, Virginia 1893 births 1987 deaths University of Virginia alumni American expatriates in China