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History
Born in Chalfont-St-Giles, Buckinghamshire, 1904; son of Roland Allen (a missionary in North China with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel until his resignation in 1907, and a radical critic of the Church) and his wife (Mary) Beatrice (née Tarleton); educated at Westminster School; studied classics at St John's College Oxford; travelled to the Sudan to work on the Gezia Cotton Scheme Project for the Sudan Plantations Syndicate as Assistant Inspector of a cotton plantation, 1927; learnt to speak Arabic and developed an interest in Islamic culture and the Islamic world; returned to England and entered the Colonial Service as Superintendent of Schools in Tanganyika (later Tanzania), 1929; married Winifred 'Winkie' Ethel Emma Brooke (d 1991), 1930; became increasingly interested in the Swahili language; gained a diploma in Swahili from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, by distance learning, 1932; Political Officer and then Deputy British Agent in the Western Aden Protectorate, 1947-1952; returned to Tanganyika, 1952; left the Colonial Service, 1958; Secretary of the Inter-Territorial Swahili Language Committee from 1959; a close friend of many East African writers, notably Shabaan Robert; appointed Honorary Research Fellow at University College, Dar-es-Salaam, with a Rockefeller Foundation grant to document Swahili, 1965; collected, edited and published Swahili and Arabic manuscripts; with his wife, made extensive collections on the East African coast in connection with his academic post and in conjunction with the East African Swahili Committee; Director of the Institute of Swahili Research, University of Dar-es-Salaam, 1968-1970; after retirement from the University, with his wife ran the special Swahili language programme at the Danish Volunteer Training Centre in Tengeru, near Arusha, 1970-1973; continued to translate and publish Swahili texts; four children; died, 1979. For further biographical details see Friederike Wilkening, Der Swahilist John Willoughby Tarleton Allen - Biographie, Werk und Bibliotek (Universität zu Koln, 1998). Publications include: Maandiko ya Kizungu yaani kitabu cha kusomea herufi wanazozitumia wazungu, etc (Swahili-Arabic reader) (Longmans & Co, London, 1938, and later editions); Utenzi wa Vita vya Wadachi Kutamalaki Mrima: the German conquest of the Swahili coast (Beauchamp Printing Co, Arusha, 1955); Utenzi wa Kutawafu Nabii: the release of the Prophet (Beauchamp Printing Co, Arusha, 1956); The Swahili and Arabic manuscripts and tapes in the Library of the University College, Dar-es-Salaam: a catalogue (E J Brill, Leiden, 1970); Tendi: six examples of a Swahili classical verse form (Heinemann Educational, Nairobi and London, 1971); The customs of the Swahili people: the Desturi za Waswahili of Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari and other Swahili persons (University of California Press, Berkeley and London, 1981); A Poem concerning the death of the prophet Muhammad: Utendi wa kutawafu Nabii, a traditional Swahili epic (Edwin Mellen, Lewiston and Lampeter, 1991).