William Allan of Glen

William Allan of Glen JP (1788–1868) was a 19th-century Scottish merchant who served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1829 to 1831.

He was born on 20 August 1788 at Hillside House in Edinburgh (at the top of Leith Walk), the son of Alexander Allan (1747-1825), a banker, and his wife Ann Losh.

His father had purchased the Hillside estate, which included most of Calton Hill and the lands to the north, in 1785 from James Grant or John Plenderleith for £10,500.

[2] In 1821 he commissioned William Henry Playfair to design a large extension to the New Town on the Hillside and Calton Hill lands.

[citation needed] In the 1850s he was trying to live within his means at Boulogne having not only sold the Glen estate but also his Edinburgh properties.