[Thomas] Harold ALLEN (1897–1918)
(Allen is also remembered on the All Saints’ Church Roll of Honour and thus appears twice in the “tour”)
Thomas Harold Allen (known as Harold) was born in Shrewsbury on 25 March 1897. He was the son of Thomas Allen (born in Overton, Flintshire in 1863) and Mary Emma Edwards (born in Gobowen, Shropshire in 1862).
His parents were married at Oswestry, Shropshire on 7 November 1895 and he was their only child:
- Thomas Harold Allen (born in Shrewsbury on 25 March 1897, and baptised at Holy Trinity Church there on 28 April.
The 1901 census shows Thomas Harold (already named simply as Harold) at the age of four living with his parents at 2 Belle Vue Gardens, Shrewsbury. His father Thomas Allen (37) was a domestic coachman.
On 26 December 1901 when Harold was only three, his mother Mary Emma Allen died in Shrewsbury at the age of 38 and was buried at the Longden Road Cemetery in Shrewsbury.
By the time of the 1911 census Harold (14), who was still at school, was living in All Saints’ parish, Headington at 123 Lime Walk (in the house called “Hazeldene”, then numbered 75) with his father Thomas Allen (46), who was working as a domestic coachman, and his maternal aunt Miss Jessie Edwards (40), who presumably kept house for them. His father was probably employed at Highfield Park (where he was definitely the coachman in 1921).
At some point between 1911 and 1918 Harold may have worked in St Andrew’s parish. as he is listed on this war memorial. .
In the First World War Thomas Harold Allen served as a Private in the Royal Fusiliers (Service No. 54938).
He died in Yorkshire, in the Halifax registration district, at the age of 21 on 2 September 1918 and was buried in Headington Cemetery five days later (9. X. 4).
Right: Thomas Harold Allen’s grave in Headington Cemetery, photographed in 2010. He was an only child, and his father, a widower, must have had this gravestone put up in his memory. It reads:
IN
LOVING MEMORY OF
THOMAS HAROLD ALLEN
DIED [unclear]
SEPT 2 1918, AGED 21 YEARS
BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART
FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD
His father was buried with him in 1930, and the following words were added:
ALSO OF
THOMAS ALLEN
FATHER OF THE ABOVE
DIED NOV. 19th 1930 AGED 66 YEARS
THY WILL BE DONE
Thomas Harold Allen is remembered on the roll of honour both of All Saints’ Church (where his home was) and of St Andrew’s Church.
Postscript
Harold’s father
- Thomas Allen (56) was working as a coachman at Highfield Park at the time of the 1921 census and was living at St Asaph, 56 Stapleton Road. He died at the age of 66 and was buried in Headington Cemetery on 22 November 1930. At the time of his death he was described as a farm bailiff.