Editing Ralph Allen

{{short description|British postmaster and merchant (1693–1764)}}
{{other people|Ralph Allen}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox person
|name          = Ralph Allen
|image         = Ralph Allen (1693–1764).jpg
|birth_date    = {{circa|1693}}
|birth_place   = [[St Columb Major]], [[Cornwall]], England
|death_date    = 29 June {{death year and age|1764|1693}}
|death_place   = [[Bath, Somerset]], Great Britain
|resting_place = [[Claverton, Somerset]]
|known_for     = Reforming the British postal system
|occupation    = Postmaster, merchant and philanthropist
}}

'''Ralph Allen''' ({{circa|1693}} – 29 June 1764) was a British postmaster, merchant and philanthropist best known for his reforms to [[General Post Office#Early postal services|Britain's postal system]]. Born in [[St Columb Major]], [[Cornwall]], he moved to [[Bath, Somerset]] to work in the municipal post office, becoming its [[postmaster]] by 1712. Allen made the system more efficient and took over contracts for the British mail service to cover areas of England up to the [[Anglo-Scottish border]] and into [[South Wales]]. 

He purchased local stone mines from his postal profits and had [[Prior Park]] built as his [[English country house|country house]] to show off the versatility of [[Bath stone]], using the [[Ralph Allen's Town House|old post office]] as his [[Townhouse (Great Britain)|townhouse]]. Working alongside architect [[John Wood, the Elder]], the stone Allen mined was heavily used in construction work for development works in Bath. However, the mines did not consistently make a profit and he subsidised them from his postal profits. 

After his death, he was buried in a pyramid-topped tomb in [[Claverton, Somerset]]. Allen is commemorated in the names of streets and schools in the city of Bath and was the model for the character of [[The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling#List of characters|Squire Allworthy]] in the 1749 novel ''[[The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling]]'' by [[Henry Fielding]].<ref name="ondb">{{cite ODNB|id=386|first=Brenda J.|last=Buchanan|title=Allen, Ralph}}</ref>

==Early life==

Much is unknown or obscure regarding Allen's early life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' gives his father as Philip Allen, reputed to be an innkeeper.<ref name="ondb" /> As a teenager, Allen worked at the Post Office at [[St Columb Major|St Columb]], run by his grandmother. He moved in 1710 to [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]], where he became a post office clerk, and at the age of 19, in 1712, became the [[Postmaster]] of Bath.<ref>Staff, Frank (1966). ''The Penny Post, 1680–1918'', p. 57. London: Lutterworth Press</ref> In 1742 he was elected [[Mayor of Bath]].<ref name="postmus">{{cite web |url=http://www.bathpostalmuseum.co.uk/ralph-allen.html |title=Ralph Allen Biography |publisher=Bath Postal Museum |access-date=12 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004234025/http://www.bathpostalmuseum.co.uk/ralph-allen.html |archive-date=4 October 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Involvement in the postal system==
[[File:At Bath Postal Museum 2023 40.jpg|thumb|right|Allen's second postal contract, 1727, at the [[Bath Postal Museum]]]]
At the age of 27, Allen took control of the Cross and Bye Posts in the South West under a seven-year contract with the [[General Post Office]], although he had no official title.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ralph Allen |url=http://stnicholasbathampton.org.uk/smc/index.php/ralph-allen |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806043001/http://stnicholasbathampton.org.uk/smc/index.php/ralph-allen |archive-date=6 August 2016 |access-date=20 January 2018 |publisher=St Mary the Virgin, Claverton}}</ref> At the end of this period he had not made a profit, only breaking even,<ref name="postmus"/> but he had the courage to continue.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ralph Allen's Postal Contract|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/IlIrivR_QBOZlxTSNgCm9A|website=A History of the World|publisher=BBC|access-date=20 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161107044122/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/IlIrivR_QBOZlxTSNgCm9A|archive-date=7 November 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

Over the next few years, he reformed the postal service.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tombs |first=R. C. |url=https://archive.org/details/tombs-bristol-royal-mail/page/8/mode/2up |title=The Bristol Royal Mail. Post, Telegraph, and Telephone |publisher=Arrowsmith |year=1899 |location=Bristol |pages=8–16}}</ref> He realised that post boys were delivering items of mail along their route without them being declared and that this was lost profit. He introduced a "signed for" system that prevented the malpractice.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ralph Allen (1693–1764)|url=http://500years.royalmailgroup.com/gallery/ralph-allen-1693-1764/|work=Royal Mail|access-date=20 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121071329/http://500years.royalmailgroup.com/gallery/ralph-allen-1693-1764/|archive-date=21 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> He also improved efficiency by not requiring mail to go via London.

Allen's reputation grew and he took over more and more of the English postal system, signing contracts every seven years until he died aged 71. It is estimated that he saved the Post Office £1,500,000 over a 40-year period.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ralph Allen of Prior Park|url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/prior-park-landscape-garden/features/ralph-allen-of-prior-park|publisher=National Trust|access-date=20 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121071514/https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/prior-park-landscape-garden/features/ralph-allen-of-prior-park|archive-date=21 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> He won the patronage of [[General Wade]] in 1715, when he disclosed details of a [[Jacobite uprising in Cornwall]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.janeausten.co.uk/ralph-allen-and-john-woods-elder-and-younger |title=Ralph Allen |date=16 July 2011 |publisher=Jane Austen Centre |access-date=12 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017024345/http://www.janeausten.co.uk/ralph-allen-and-john-woods-elder-and-younger/ |archive-date=17 October 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Bath stone and his residences==
With the arrival of [[John Wood, the Elder|John Wood]] in Bath, Allen used the wealth gained from his postal reforms to acquire the stone quarries at [[Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines]].<ref name="postmus"/><ref name=bathuk>{{cite web|title=Ralph Allen|url=http://bath.co.uk/they-came-to-bath/ralph-allen|publisher=Bath UK|access-date=20 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121071228/http://bath.co.uk/they-came-to-bath/ralph-allen|archive-date=21 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Hitherto, the quarry masons had always hewn stone roughly providing blocks of varying size. The resulting uneven surface is known as "rubble" and buildings of this type&nbsp;– built during the [[House of Stuart|Stuart]] period&nbsp;– are visible throughout the older parts of Bath.<ref>{{cite book|last=Greenwood|first=Charles|title=Famous houses of the West Country|year=1977|publisher=Kingsmead Press|location=Bath|isbn=978-0-901571-87-8|pages=70–74}}</ref>

The distinctive honey-coloured [[Bath stone]], used to build the [[Georgian era|Georgian]] city, made Allen a second fortune. The building in Lilliput Alley, Bath (now North Parade Passage), which he used as a post office, became his town house<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bathdailyphoto.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/060219bath-a-room-with-a-view/|title=060219.Bath, A Room with a View|date=18 February 2007 |publisher=Bath Daily Photos|access-date=20 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080821081451/http://bathdailyphoto.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/060219bath-a-room-with-a-view/|archive-date=21 August 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> and in 1727 he refronted the southern rubble wall, extended the house to the north and added a new storey.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=The Ralph Allen Town House|num=1395830|accessdate=20 January 2018}}</ref> [[John Wood, the Elder|John Wood the Elder]] refers to this in his "Essay towards the future of Bath". Allen was astute at marketing the qualities of Bath stone and erected an elaborately ornate building a few feet to the north of his house to demonstrate its qualities. The extension (as Wood refers to it) has become known as "[[Ralph Allen's Town House]]", though whether it was designed by Wood is unproven and many local historians consider it unlikely.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Ross|first1=Kay|title=Building Report on The Friends Meeting House, York Street, Bath|url=http://idox.bathnes.gov.uk/WAM/doc/BackGround%20Papers-175547.pdf?extension=.pdf&id=175547&location=VOLUME1&contentType=application/pdf&pageCount=1&appid=1001|website=The House Historians|publisher=Bath and North East Somerset|access-date=20 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121000023/http://idox.bathnes.gov.uk/WAM/doc/BackGround%20Papers-175547.pdf?extension=.pdf&id=175547&location=VOLUME1&contentType=application%2Fpdf&pageCount=1&appid=1001|archive-date=21 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Holland|first1=Elizabeth|title=The Kingston Estate Within the Walled City of Bath: A Composite Plan of the 1740s Showing the Work of John Wood and Others.|date=1992|publisher=Blackett Press|asin=B00ILBPT60}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443802|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018033819/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443802|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 October 2012|title= Ralph Allen's House, Terrace Walk, Bath|work=Images of England|publisher=English Heritage|access-date=10 January 2009}}</ref> Allen continued to live there until 1745, when he moved to [[Prior Park]], and the town house became his offices.<ref name="bdp">{{cite web|url=http://bathdailyphoto.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/060219bath-a-room-with-a-view/|title=060219.Bath, A Room with a View|date=18 February 2007 |publisher=Bath Daily Photos|access-date=16 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080821081451/http://bathdailyphoto.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/060219bath-a-room-with-a-view/|archive-date=21 August 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>

Allen had the [[Palladian architecture|Palladian]] mansion of Prior Park built (1742) on a hill overlooking the city, "To see all Bath, and for all Bath to see".<ref name=bathuk/> He gave money and the stone for the building of the [[Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases|Mineral Water Hospital]] in central Bath 1738.<ref>{{cite web|title=Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases|url=http://bath-heritage.co.uk/rnhrd.html|publisher=Bath Heritage|access-date=20 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171113083719/http://bath-heritage.co.uk/rnhrd.html|archive-date=13 November 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1758 he bought [[Claverton Manor]], just east of Bath.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The History of Claverton Manor|url=https://americanmuseum.org/about-the-museum/history/the-history-of-claverton-manor/|access-date=17 November 2020|website=American Museum & Gardens|language=en-US}}</ref>

Allen had a summer home built in the coastal town of [[Weymouth Harbour, Dorset|Weymouth]] in Dorset, overlooking the harbour at number 2 Trinity Road, opposite the Customs House.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Knowles|first1=Rachel|title=Ralph Allen - Weymouth's first Georgian tourist|url=http://www.regencyhistory.net/2013/09/ralph-allen-weymouths-first-georgian.html|publisher=Regency History|access-date=20 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121072725/http://www.regencyhistory.net/2013/09/ralph-allen-weymouths-first-georgian.html|archive-date=21 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> There is a plaque on the house to commemorate Allen. His Bath stone was used in the Georgian buildings of Weymouth.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ralph Allen black plaque in Weymouth|url=http://www.blueplaqueplaces.co.uk/ralph-allen-black-plaque-in-weymouth-13025|publisher=Blue Plaques|access-date=20 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120182156/http://www.blueplaqueplaces.co.uk/ralph-allen-black-plaque-in-weymouth-13025|archive-date=20 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Commemoration==
[[File:Geograph 2664049 Memorial to Ralph Allen, Claverton churchyard.jpg|thumb|Allen's tomb in Claverton]]

After Allen died in Bath on 29 June 1764,<ref>{{cite DNB |wstitle=Allen, Ralph |last=Tregellas |first=Walter Hawken |authorlink=Walter Hawken Tregellas|volume=01}}</ref> he was buried in a pyramid-topped tomb in [[Claverton, Somerset|Claverton]] churchyard, on the outskirts of the city.<ref>{{NHLE | desc=Mausoleum to Ralph Allen, in churchyard to south of St Mary's Church | num=1214536 | accessdate=14 January 2008 }}</ref> A marble bust stood in the Mineral Water Hospital (later the [[Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases]]) and was moved to the hospital's new building at Combe Park in 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bathecho.co.uk/news/health/mineral-water-history-makes-way-ruh-site-87790/|title=Mineral Water Hospital history makes its way to the RUH's Combe Park site|date=18 December 2019|website=Bath Echo|language=en-GB|access-date=30 January 2020}}</ref>

His name is commemorated in Ralph Allen Drive which runs past his former home at [[Prior Park]].  Now a busy road from [[Combe Down]] village to Bath city centre, this was the route by which the stone from his quarries at Combe Down was sent on wooden sledges down to the River Avon. [[Prior Park College]], a private school for 11- to 18-year-olds, is housed in Allen's former home and incorporates a boys' boarding house named Allen House.<ref>{{cite web|title=Our History|url=http://www.priorparkcollege.com/about/our-history|publisher=Prior Park College|access-date=20 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121071331/http://www.priorparkcollege.com/about/our-history|archive-date=21 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Prior Park Landscape Garden]] and Palladian bridge are cared for by the [[National Trust]], who brought the garden back from dereliction in 1993.<ref name="pandghistory">{{cite web|title=History: Prior Park, Bath, England|url=http://www.parksandgardens.org/places-and-people/site/2709/history|website=Parks and Gardens UK|publisher=Parks and Gardens Data Services Ltd.|access-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141226220051/http://www.parksandgardens.org/places-and-people/site/2709/history|archive-date=26 December 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="ntdev">{{cite web|title=Development of the garden at Prior Park|url=http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/article-1356402532573/|publisher=National Trust|access-date=2 April 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403195921/http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/article-1356402532573/|archive-date=3 April 2015}}</ref> He is also remembered in [[Ralph Allen School]], one of the city's state secondary schools.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ralphallenschool.com/32/about-our-school|title=About our School|publisher=Ralph Allen School|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120182101/http://www.ralphallenschool.com/32/about-our-school|archive-date=20 January 2018|access-date=20 January 2018}}</ref>

The Ralph Allen CornerStone in Combe Down village opened in the autumn of 2013.  This houses the archives of the Combe Down Heritage Society and provides a community hub and information centre as part of the legacy of the project to infill the stone mines underneath the village.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ralph Allen CornerStone|url=http://www.ralphallencornerstone.org.uk/|publisher=Ralph Allen CornerStone|access-date=20 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208094014/http://www.ralphallencornerstone.org.uk/|archive-date=8 December 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Writer [[Henry Fielding]] used Allen as the model for [[The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling#List of characters|Squire Allworthy]] in the 1749 novel ''[[The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling]]''.<ref name="postmus"/>

==See also==
* [[Bath Postal Museum]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
{{DNB Poster|Allen, Ralph|Ralph Allen}}
* {{cite book|last=Boyce|first= B.|date= 1967|title=The benevolent man: a life of Ralph Allen of Bath|url=https://archive.org/details/benevolentmanlif0000boyc|url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book|last=Erskine-Hill|first= Howard|date=1975 |chapter='Low-Born Allen': Ralph Allen (1693–1764) |title=The Social Milieu of Alexander Pope}}
* {{cite book|last=Davis|first= S.|date= 1985|title=Ralph Allen: benefactor and postal reformer|publisher=Bath Postal Museum |type=Booklet}}
* Hopkins, A. E. (ed.) (1960). ''Ralph Allen's own narrative, 1720–1761''.
* {{cite book|last=Peach|first= R.E.M.|date= 1895|title= The life and times of Ralph Allen|publisher= D. Nutt|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeandtimesral00peacgoog}}

==External links==
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?LinkID=mp00080 Ralph Allen] at the [[National Portrait Gallery, London]]
* [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=P435&tabType=ARCHIVE Allen, Ralph (1694–1764) Philanthropist] at the [[National Register of Archives]]
* [http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/prior-park/ Prior Park Landscape Garden, National Trust]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Ralph}}
[[Category:1690s births]]
[[Category:1764 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century English businesspeople]]
[[Category:18th-century British merchants]]
[[Category:British postmasters]]
[[Category:English philanthropists]]
[[Category:People from St Columb Major]]
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[[Category:18th-century British philanthropists]]
[[Category:Combe Down]]
[[Category:Mayors of Bath, Somerset]]
[[Category:Postal pioneers]]