Nat Gould

Barbara Egerton 1881-1974

Barbara Egerton was born on 31 January 1881 at Bloxham in Oxfordshire, the daughter of Hubert Decimus Egerton 1848-1932 and his wife née Annie Horner 1846-1926.

In 1909 she was married to Guy Oldfield Allen at Bombay in India (1). He was born on 7 November 1883 in London, the son of Vernon Allen and his wife née Charlotte Moor Wood. He was a younger brother of Vernon Moor Allen the husband of Annie Cecily Allen née Egerton, the sister of his wife.

He served in the Indian Civil Service from 1908 until 1933, and became an expert botanist (2). He was made a Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1949. His library and herbarium are preserved in the Natural History Museum in London (3).

They had the following children:

Dorothy Annie Allen. She was born in 1911 at Mirzapur in India.

Richard Guy Allen 1914-1940. He was a Pilot in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and was killed in action on 11 September 1940.

Angela Allen. She was born in 1918 at Mussowie in India.

After their father retired from the Indian Civil Service, the family lived at St Oswald's, Enton Green, Witley in Surrey.

Dorothy Annie Allen and Angela Allen contributed reminiscences of their childhood in India to a volume published in 2004 (4).

Their mother Barbara Allen née Egerton died on 26 February 1974 in Wilton Nursing Home, Hindhead in Surrey aged 93 years.

She was buried at Witley, where there is a gravestone inscribed to her memory and that of her husband.

Her husband Guy Oldfield Allen predeceased her on 11 April 1963 aged 79 years, and was buried at Witley. Probate of his Will was granted on 26 June 1963 (5).

(1) Kent & Sussex Courier 27 August 1909.
(2) He specialised in charophyta algae, and publishedBritish Stoneworts (Charophyta) Haslemere Microscope and Natural History Society (1950).
(3) Dictionary of British & Irish Botanists and Horticulturalists R. Desmond (editor) (1994) page 11.
(4) Last Children of the Raj volume 2 1939-1950 (2004) page 335.
(5) "ALLEN Guy Oldfield of St. Oswalds Enton Green Godalmimg Surrey died 11 April 1963 Probate London 26 June to Barbara Allen widow and Dorothy Annie Allen spinster. Effects £29845 3s 8d." National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) 1858-1966 (1963) page 110.