ALLEN, JOHN, M.D., was born near Edinburgh in 1770, and educated at the university of that city, where he took the degree of M.D. in 1791. With youthful enthusiasm, Allen joined the Scottish movement of that period for parliamentary reform; and this circumstance, according to the policy of the day, probably being an impediment to professional employment, induced him to become a lecturer on physiology in Edinburgh, where he was distinguished by the precise philosophical views and clearness of his prelections.
Some years afterwards, he took up his abode in Holland House, as the friend and private secretary of the late Lord Holland. In 1811 he was elected warden of Dulwich College; and in 1820 obtained the comfortable sinecure of master of that institution, where he died in 1843.
Allen's detached publications, though well-written, are not very important, if we except his valuable "Inquiry into the growth of the Royal Prerogative," which appeared in 1830; but he was an able contributor to the Edinburgh Review, of not less, it is said, than forty articles, chiefly on physiological, metaphysical, and political subjects; and some of his contributions on French and Spanish history are very interesting. To this last department he was probably directed by his intimacy with Lord Holland. Dr Allen was a man of vigorous mind, and extensive information. (T. S. T.)