John Allen (provost of Wakefield)

Allen was born on 9 June 1932 in Rusholme, Lancashire (now in Greater Manchester).[2] His father was Ronald Edward Taylor Allen, a canon and sometime Vicar of Edgbaston.[3] He was educated at Rugby School, then an all-boys public school.[2] He studied at University College, Oxford, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1956.[4]

Allen was in the Colonial Service in Kenya from 1957 to 1963. After Kenya's independence, he moved to a career in business. He worked in Sales and Marketing with Kimberly-Clark until 1966.

Having become unsatisfied with his business career, Allen felt the call to ordination.[2] In 1966, he entered Westcott House, Cambridge, an Anglican theological college.[4] For two years he trained at Westcott and additionally studied theology at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.[2] By 1968, he had completed his training and graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.[4]

Allen was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1968 and as a priest in 1969.[4] He was initially a Curate at Deal and then Vicar of St Paul’s, Clifton.[5] He was then the incumbent at Chippenham until 1982 when he became Provost of Wakefield, a post he held until 1997.

Allen's churchmanship was described as liberal Catholic in his Church Times obituary.[6]

He died on 9 September 2015 at the age of 83.[7]