Walter Thomas Allen
Forward to GGF2 – William Charles Allen – Back to F – Ivanhoe Allen
Go to Allen Family Tree – Go to Perry Family Tree
Back to Jane’s Tree Introduction – Back to Jane’s Tree Origins
| LINKS: GF1 Walter Thomas Allen GM1 Elizabeth Amy Perry Walter Thomas and Elizabeth Amy’s children William Charles III – died in the WWI Menin Road battle Father – Ivanhoe Wilfred Allen |
[GF1]
GF1 – Walter Thomas Allen was the third of thirteen children of GGF1 – William Charles Allen and GGM1 – Rebecca Culliford. He was baptised on 21 Feb 1877 at St Mary the Virgin’s church, Bathwick, Bath.
1877 CONTEXT US inventor Thomas Edison demonstrates his hand-cranked phonograph for the first time, as it is announced in Scientific American.  Kate Edger becomes New Zealand’s first woman graduate and first woman in the British Empire to earn a Bachelor of Arts. |
—
[elizamy]
Walter married GM1 – Elizabeth Amy Perry (1880-1967) on 10 Mar 1898 at Bath Registry Office. Elizabeth was born 25 Nov 1880 in Bath to Thomas Sullivan Perry (1864- ) of Carriglane, Cork and Mary Ellen O’Sullivan (1859-1886) of Derryvreeveen, Bere Island, Cork.
[children3]
 Elizabeth Amy Perry with daughter Margaret Ruby behind her |  Family Group – Walter, Elizabeth and seven of their children c 1913/194 |
Walter was in the 4th Somerset Light Infantry, aka the Prince Albert’s. He was a Private in 1898 when the army recorded the birth and baptism of his first child, William Charles Allen at age 21. His battallion was based at Lower Bristol Road, Bath in Aug 1914. On 9 Oct 1914 they sailed from Southampton, landing at Bombay on 9 Nov 1914. On 23 Feb 1916 they transferred to Basra and remained in Mesopotamia throughout the war.
There was however one part of the 4th that remained in the UK throughout the war. As Walter and Lizzie had three children Dorothy in 1913, Phyliis 1915 and Margaret 1917 – we conclude he was in that section.
In total they had thirteen children and twenty-two grandchildren.
| Children: | Grandchildren: |
| William Charles Allen III (1898-1917) – more below – buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery, Ypres, France | |
| Walter Reginald ‘Reggie’ Allen (1902-1931) | |
| Leonard Alfred Allen (1903-1939) Emily Price (1902-?) married in Oct 1930 in Bath | married rather late, no data on issue |
| Percy Douglas Allen (1906-1956) | no data on marriage or issue |
| Reginald Allen (1908-1985) Evelyn G Derrick (1911-1985) married Jan 1932 in Bath | Jean S Allen (1944-) |
| Dennis Roy Allen (1910-1980) Laura Agnes Louisa Gigg (1915-2005) married Jul 1934 in Bath | Unclear, but he may have emigrated to Melbourne Australia and come back? |
| Dorothy ‘Dot’ Gertrude Mary Allen (1913-2005) Arthur E Iles (1899-1977) married 1931 | Barbara J Iles (1932–) Maureen D Iles (1933–) Barry Roy Iles (1935–2005) Janice D Iles (1936–) Colin Michael Iles (1937–2013) Margaret Iles (1939–1939) Michael Iles (1939–1939) Dawn P Iles (1940–) Terence J Iles (1942–1956) died in fall from bridge Sandra A Iles (1946–) Michael J Iles (1948–) Marilyn D Iles (1951–) Carol S Iles (1954–) |
| Phyllis Emily Allen (1915-2009) Victor William Thurston Eades (1914-1987) married 1937 | Roger Thomas Thurston Eades (1939–2010) Neil Phillip Eades (1943–2013) |
 Margaret Ruby Allen (1917-1994) Benjamin James Tiley (1916-1997) married 1939 Robert G Macfarlane (1916-?) married 1948 | Charmian Elisabeth Tiley (1939–1940) Maxine Hilary Tiley (1940–1941) Lynn Tyley — Iona M Macfarlane [Weiss] (1948-1994) Sean Macfarlane (?-?) |
 F – Ivanhoe Wilfred Allen (1919-1996)  M: Violet Evelyn Eileen Stiles (1921-2012) | Wife: Jane Alison [Denton] Allen (1948- ) |
In the 1901 Census an odd grouping of Allens appears at 4 Margaret’s Place, Bath. One head of household is shown as Elizabeth Amy (Perry) Allen at 20 years old, with William Charles at 2 yrs old. Her husband, Walter Thomas, was in the Army and thus presumably away. But also shown living at 4 Margaret’s Place is another head of household, GGF1 – William Charles Allen (50), with Rebecca (Culliford) Allen (50), Reginald (17) is a fishmonger’s assistant, Elizabeth (15) is in domestic service, with Caroline (13), Frank (11), Elsie (9) and Kate (8).
In the 1911 Census Walter’s family was living at 1 St James Court, Bath, Walter (34) is a casual labourer, Lizzie (29) has no occupation, William Charles III is 13, Walter Reginald is 9, Leonard Alfred (8), Percy Douglas (4), Reginald (3) and Dennis Roy (1).
Walter Thomas died on 10 Jan 1930 and was buried at Locksbrook Cemetery in Bath, in plot number 222971865.
[meninroad]
William Charles Allen III (1898-1917)
Walter’s eldest was William Charles III, who was born on 29 Jul 1898 in Bath.
William was Private No 55834 in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers 9th Battalion, he lived in Bath but joined up at Taunton. He was sent to the Western European Theatre, and became part of Sir Douglas Haig’s Third Ypres battle, planned to make a significant breakthrough in Flanders.
The first and second battles of Ypres had been launched by the Germans in 1914 and 1915. But the Third Ypres battle was launched by Haig on 31 Jul 1917 and was sustained for over three months until the eventual fall of Passchendaele village on 6 Nov 1917.
After an early flurry of activity, the attacks began afresh on 20 Sep 1917 in the Ypres Salient in Flanders, William died upon that day.
Given the date of William’s death it would appear that he was therefore involved in the battle of the Menin Road Ridge. This was the third British general attack of the third battle of Ypres, certainly not a case of third time lucky for William! This attack introduced the new approach of ‘leap-frogging’ where one wave would have an objective and consolidate upon reaching it, then the next wave would leap beyond them to the next objective and so on. But it proved no more effective.
 |  |
Passchendaele was finally taken on 6 Nov 1917.
Lloyd George said Passchendaele was indeed one of the greatest disasters of the war … No soldier of any intelligence now defends this senseless campaign.
Brigadier-General J E Edmonds put the official British casualties at 244,897 and estimated the German losses at 400,000, both were, perhaps in reality, underestimates.
Siegfried Sassoon wrote of this battle:
Squire nagged and bullied till I went to fight,
(Under Lord Derby’s Scheme). I died in hell—
(They called it Passchendaele). My wound was slight,
And I was hobbling back; and then a shell
Burst slick upon the duck-boards: so I fell
Into the bottomless mud, and lost the light…
William III was later laid to rest in Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Ypres at location P090S117. William was just nineteen. His father Walter received his son’s ‘soldier’s effects’ two years later, on 11 Jul 1919, together with the sum of £4 4s 9p by way of compensation for his loss.
Walter Reginald ‘Reggie’ Allen (1902-1931) and Percy Douglas Allen (1906-1956)
I can find no record of any marriage or children for these sons. Walter’s second and fourth.
Leonard Alfred Allen (1903-1939) and
Leonard was apparently married in Oct 1930 to an Emily Price in Bath, but we found no record of any issue.
Reginald Allen (1908-1985)
Reginald married Evelyn G Derrick (1911-1985) in Jan 1932 in Bath. They had one child Jean S Allen (1944-).
Dennis Roy Allen (1910-1980)
Dennis maried Laura Agnes Louisa Gigg (1915-2005) in Jul 1934 in Bath, There is no record of children and an unconfirmed suggestion he may have emigrated to Melbourne Australia, and then later returned?
[Note not be confused with Dennis Roy Allen (1910-1944)]
[ivanhoe]
Ivanhoe Wilfred Allen (1919-1996)
A 1939 Register shows the family living at 16 London Place – the head of household is Elizabeth A Allen, she has living with her – Percy, Margaret [Tiley] with her baby Charmian, Ivanhoe – and Herbert Perry, presumably a relative of Elizabeth’s.
See more on Ivan on his own page.
Forward to GGF2 – William Charles Allen – Back to F – Ivanhoe Allen
Go to Allen Family Tree – Go to Perry Family Tree
Back to Jane’s Tree Introduction – Back to Jane’s Tree Origins
