Obituary 1853, Admiral John Allen

June 4. At Torpoint, near Plymouth, after an illness of nearly four years, John Allen, esq. Admiral on the reserved halfpay list.

He was the youngest son of the late Admiral John Carter Allen, and entered the service Feb. 12, 1787, on board the Sybil, Capt Richard Bickerton, on the West India station. From 1790 to Oct. 1793 he served in the Boyne 98, Captain George Bowyer, and the Impregnable and Assistance, flag-ships at Plymouth and Newfoundland of Sir Richard Bickerton and Sir Richard King. Having removed to the Penelope 32, he assisted in the action fought off St. Domingo by that vessel and her consort the Iphigenia, of , the same force, with the French 3G-gun frigate I'lnconstante, which was captured after a contest of half an hour, in which the Penelope had one man killed and seven wounded, of whom one was Mr. Allen. On the 10th Dec. in the same year he was appointed to a Lieutenancy in the Convert 36, which was wrecked in the West Indies, March 8, 1794. After that event he was successively attached to the Isis 32, on the North American and African stations; and the London 98, the flag-ship of Sir John Colpoys in the Channel.

On the 6th Dec. 1796 he was promoted to the rank of Commander; and between Feb. 1798 and Nov. 1799 he served in the Childers, Alecto, and Echo sloops; in the last of which he captured, on the Jamaica station, July 3, 1799, 1'Amazon, a French letter of marque, of 10 guns and 60 men. He was posted April 29, 1802; and did not again go afloat until Jan. 1810, when he joined the Franchise 36. After visiting Newfoundland, he proceeded to the Mediterranean, and was there transferred, Aug. 1, 1811, to the Rodney 74. He returned to England in April 1812 as Captain of the Perlen 38, bearing the flag of Rear-Adm. C. Boyles. During the last two years of the war Capt. Allen officiated as Agent for Prisoners of War at Newfoundland.