Edris Elaine, Lady Allan (née Trottman; 19 April 1909 – 16 May 1995) was a Jamaican community worker, political figure and women's rights advocate.
As the wife of Sir Harold Allan, honored with the first knighthood bestowed on a Jamaican of African descent by the British crown, she became an instant celebrity, traveling often with her husband and serving as his secretary.
A founding member of the Jamaica Federation of Women (JFW), she held many offices in the organization including serving as chair from 1959 to 1962 and again from 1971 to 1976, and then president from 1976 until her death in 1995.
[14] Lady Allan, as she became known after her husband was honored as the first Afro-Jamaican knighted by the British Crown in 1948,[2] left her employ at the telephone company after four years, as her hostess and civic duties increased.
[15][16][17] The couple traveled widely throughout the Caribbean and Europe with Lady Allan assisting her husband as his secretary without remuneration, as his stipend was too small to cover all of the costs involved in representing Jamaica at diplomatic tables throughout the world.
[4] In 1949, the JFW initiated an innovative program of mass weddings[18] in an effort to secure and protect the right of support of women and children by eliminating illegitimacy for those who were married under common law.
Lady Allan spearheaded the effort and led the committee to raise funds to acquire land and construct a headquarters building for the organization.
[13] In the 1970s, Lady Allan, along with Lucille Miller and Mavis Watts, led the effort for the JFW to sponsor pre-school programs throughout Jamaica.
The organization was able to provide financial support through fundraising, local donations and grants from the United States Agency for International Development and in spite of the hardships, including damage from hurricanes to facilities, continued the program for more than two decades.
She was appointed to the Minimum Wage Committee, served on the Commission on Beaches and Foreshore Lands, and also worked with the Juvenile Court on a panel of advisory Justices of the Peace.