(1792 - 1864)
William Allen was born in Weymouth, Dorset, and entered the navy aged 12. He took part in the Passage of the Dardanelles (1807), Capture of Java (1811) and the Niger expedition led by R. L. Lander (1832). He was commander of the ‘Wilberforce’ during the disastrous Niger expedition of 1841-42. In 1848, with T. R. H. Thomson, he published ‘Narrative of the Expedition to the River Niger’. In 1849 he travelled through Syria and Palestine, later publishing ‘The Dead Sea, a New Route to India’ (1855). He was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (1835) and Royal Society (1844). As an amateur artist he exhibited at the Royal Academy and Society of British Artists. He became retired rear-admiral (1862) before his death in Weymouth, aged 71.
