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Alf Allen (New Zealand politician)

The Honourable Alf Allen CMG
17th Speaker of the House of Representatives
In office 7 June 1972 – 26 October 1972
Prime Minister	Jack Marshall
Preceded by	Roy Jack
Succeeded by	Stan Whitehead
27th Chairman of Committees
In office 13 March 1970 – 7 June 1972
Preceded by	Jack George
Succeeded by	Richard Harrison
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Franklin
In office 30 November 1957 – 26 October 1972
Preceded by	Jack Massey
Succeeded by	Bill Birch
Personal details
Born	Alfred Ernest Allen (1912-05-20)20 May 1912 Onehunga, New Zealand
Died	9 March 1987(1987-03-09) (aged 74) New Zealand
Political party	National
Other political affiliations	Democratic Labour Party

Alfred Ernest Allen CMG (20 May 1912 – 9 March 1987) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party. In 1972, he was the seventeenth Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Biography[edit]

Allen was born in Onehunga, Auckland, in 1912,^[1] and baptised in the Onehunga Presbyterian parish on 28 July of that year.^[2] He attended a variety of primary schools in the Bay of Plenty, Franklin and Auckland.^[3] After attending Auckland Grammar School, he became a farmer;^[1] he would own farms in Port Albert on the Kaipara Harbour, Maramarua in the Waikato, and Clevedon in the Franklin District. He married Nancy Cutfield in 1935. They had one son and three daughters. In World War II he served in the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force from 1940 to 1943; he was a sergeant major.^[1]

He unsuccessfully stood as the Hamilton candidate for breakaway Labour MP John A. Lee and his Democratic Labour Party in the 1943 general election.^[1] Of four candidates, he came a distant third with less than 6% of the votes.^[4]

He was the National Member of Parliament for Franklin from 1957 (when the veteran sitting MP Jack Massey was deselected by the National Party in favour of Allen) to 1972, when he retired.^[5] He was Chairman of Committees from 13 March 1970 until 7 June 1972,^[6] the first day of the third session of the 36th Parliament,^[7] when he was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives.^[8] He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1973 New Year Honours.^[5] He died on 9 March 1987.

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

• Gustafson, Barry (1986). The First 50 Years : A History of the New Zealand National Party. Auckland: Reed Methuen. ISBN 0-474-00177-6.
• Peterson, G. C., ed. (1971), Who's who in New Zealand (10th ed.), Wellington: A.H. & A.W. Reed
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.