Harry Brookes Allen - Late Life and Legacy

Late Life and Legacy

Allen drafted a new medical curriculum in 1921, which was adopted, but he fell ill in 1923, and though he recovered temporarily, a serious cerebral haemorrhage so incapacitated him that he was obliged to give up his chair. He died at Melbourne on 28 March 1926, survived by his wife, Ada, and three daughters. One of his daughters, Mary Allen, became well known in the United States as a painter and lecturer on art. An elder brother, George Thomas Allen, C.M.G., held a distinguished position in the Commonwealth public service.

Allen lived primarily for his work but was also interested in literature and in art. He was not without vanity, lacked humour, and made comparatively few close friends; but there was an immense earnestness in his character, and a constant striving for the best, which commanded respect. He had untiring energy, great powers of organization, and a remarkable memory. His post-mortem demonstrations were models of their kind; he was ambidextrous and showed absolute control of the materials, complete knowledge, and had a burning desire that the students should understand everything that could be learned from the particular subject. His lectures were concise and orderly, consistently keeping a very high level of instruction, and his department was run with tact and efficiency. When he first became a lecturer he shouldered everything that came his way and gradually became the guiding force in the department. George Britton Halford had laid the foundations, and considering his manifold duties had done remarkable work, but it fell to Allen to develop a really great medical school at Melbourne. Another of his monuments is The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research which, as the memorial plate to Allen at the Royal Melbourne Hospital states, owes its origin to his inspiration.