William Henry Allen (engineer)

[2] He served an apprenticeship with Richard Neville and Company at their Wern Foundry in Carmarthenshire, who specialized in large colliery machinery and winding gear at its Llanelli works.

It was there that he fell in love and eventually married a local girl, Ann Pemberton Howell (1847–86) from the nearby village of Felinfoel.

[1] It was in his native city of Cardiff that he managed his first foundry, but although scarcely twenty-one years of age, his ambitions were soon dissatisfied and in 1869 he became general manager at the Essex Street works of Messrs. James Gwynne and Co.[3] His originality meant he wanted complete independence, and after eleven years he established the great firm associated with his name, in York Street, Lambeth, adjoining the London and South-Western Railway.

The latter, after being fitted experimentally in the old twin-screw battleship HMS Devastation, initiated a long series of auxiliary power sets that gained the high esteem of the naval and mercantile marine authorities.

A fourth son, George Pemberton (an architect) was commissioned to complete work on behalf of his father and the family firm.

They had first met at the wedding of William Henry's eldest daughter, Cissie, to Frank Fedden, which took place from the Allen home, The Drewitts, Cuckfold, Sussex.