Introduction

Biography

Alfred was the son of George Pom­er­oy Al­len and Eli­za­beth Mars­hall Howe, and hus­band of Hel­en J. War­ren Hen­der­son.

He at­tend­ed Sel­win Hall, near Read­ing, Penn­syl­vania; Le­high Uni­ver­si­ty, Beth­le­hem, Penn­syl­van­ia (1893–94), and gra­du­at­ed in me­di­cine at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­van­ia (1898).

He be­gan a ca­reer in neu­ro­lo­gy at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­van­ia and Phi­la­del­phia Ge­ne­ral Hos­pi­tal.

He was a fel­low of the Col­lege of Phy­si­cians of Phi­la­del­phia; sec­re­ta­ry (1908–09) and pre­si­dent (1910) of the Phi­la­del­phia Neu­ro­lo­gi­cal So­cie­ty; and sec­re­ta­ry and trea­sur­er of the Am­er­ican Neu­ro­lo­gi­cal As­so­cia­tion (1909–17).

Allen was mu­sic­al­ly gift­ed, writ­ing the words and mu­sic for an op­era in his ear­ly years, and or­gan­iz­ing the Sa­voy Op­era Com­pa­ny for ama­teur pro­duc­tions of Gil­bert and Sul­li­van op­eras.

He al­so helped ed­it the 1911 Pres­by­te­ri­an Hym­nal.

When he en­tered the ar­my, his gifts were quick­ly re­cog­nized, and he was for a while Com­mand­ant of the School of Au­to­ma­tic Arms in the In­fan­try School of Arms of the 79th Di­vi­sion at Camp Meade, Ma­ry­land.

He was killed in act­ion dur­ing World War I.