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Alfred Allen, Baron Allen of Fallowfield

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Alfred Walter Henry Allen, Baron Allen of Fallowfield, CBE (7 July 1914 – 14 January 1985)[1] was a British trade unionist and governor of the BBC.

Early life

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Born in Bristol, he was educated at East Bristol School and worked then for the Bristol Co-operative Society until 1940, when he joined the Royal Air Force.[2] After the end of the Second World War in 1945, Allen left the Force as a sergeant and was chosen as an area organiser of the National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers in the year thereafter.[2] Following its merger into the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers in 1947, he became a national officer in 1951.[2] Allen was elected the Union's general secretary in 1962, a post he held for seventeen years until 1979.[3] In the 1967 Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).[4]

Allen was a member of the general council of the Trades Union Congress and in 1974 was nominated its president.[5] On 10 July of the latter year, he was created a life peer with the title Baron Allen of Fallowfield, of Fallowfield, in Greater Manchester.[6] In 1977, Allen served in the Board of Governors of the BBC.[7]

In 1940, he married Ruby Millicent Hounsell and they had a son and a daughter.[2]

References

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  1. ^ "Leigh Rayment - Peerage". Archived from the original on 8 June 2008. Retrieved 12 November 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d Who Is Who 1963. London: Adam & Charles Black. 1963. p. 42.
  3. ^ Taylor, Robert (1980). The Fifth Estate: Britain's Unions in the Modern World. Pan. p. 396. ISBN 0-330-25943-1.
  4. ^ "No. 44326". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1967. p. 6277.
  5. ^ McIntosh, Sir Ronald (2006). Challenge to Democracy: Politics, Trade Union Power and Economic Failure in the 1970s. Politico's. p. 133. ISBN 1-84275-157-3.
  6. ^ "No. 46352". The London Gazette. 24 September 1974. p. 7918.
  7. ^ "BBC, Official Website - History of the BBC" (PDF). Retrieved 12 November 2009.
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Trade union offices
Preceded by General Secretary of the
Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers

1962–1979
Succeeded by
Preceded by Food, Drink, etc. Group representative on the General Council of the TUC
1962–1979
With: Harold Hewitt (1962–1964)
Ernest Haynes (1964–1969)
Stan Gretton (1969–1973)
Doug Grieve (1973–1979)
Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the International Federation of Commercial, Clerical, Professional and Technical Employees
1970–1976
Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Trades Union Congress
1974
Succeeded by
Preceded by Trades Union Congress representative to the AFL-CIO
1979
Succeeded by