Stephen Shepherd Allen
Sir Stephen Shepherd Allen was a New Zealand lawyer, farmer, local body politician, and Mayor of Morrinsville. He served in World War I and in the Territorial Army, and was Administrator of the colony of Western Samoa 1928–1931. His rule was marked by relations with the Mau movement, involving its acting leader Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III, culminating in a defining moment in Samoa's colonial history on 29 December 1929.
He was the son of William Shepherd Allen, an MP in both the United Kingdom and New Zealand. His mother was Elizabeth Penelope Candlish, daughter of John Candlish. His brother William Allen was an MP in England.
Allen was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1933 Birthday Honours. In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.
On 4 November 1964, Allen suffered a heart attack while driving near Maramarua, and both he and his housekeeper, Elma Jessie Brunton, died in the resulting crash.
