George Allan (antiquary)

George Allan (left) and William Hutchinson, 1814 engraving by Joseph Collyer the Younger.

George Allan (1736–1800) was an English antiquary and attorney at Darlington.^[1]

Life[]

Allan spent much of his youth in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, where he was educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield. He became an assiduous collector of manuscripts.^[2]

Works[]

He was the author of several works relating to the history and antiquities of County Durham; he greatly aided William Hutchinson in his History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham. He presented to the Society of Antiquaries of London 26 quarto volumes of a manuscript relating principally to the University of Oxford, which he extracted from the public libraries there. He possessed a printing press, with which he produced several works; among them was a reprint of Robert Hegg's 1626 work, Legend of St Cuthbert.^[3]

Family[]

Allan married Anne Nicholson, and they had six children. The eldest son George Allan served as Member of Parliament for Durham.^[4]

Notes[]

References[]

• Gibson, John Westby (1885), "Allan, George" , in Stephen, Leslie (ed.), Dictionary of National Biography, 1, London: Smith, Elder & Co, pp. 294–295

Attribution:

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rose, Hugh James (1857). "Allan, George". A New General Biographical Dictionary. 1 AA–ANS. London: B. Fellowes et al. p. 340.