The Biographical Dictionary of America/Allen, William (jurist, 1710–1780)

ALLEN, William, jurist, was born in Philadelphia about 1710. He married a daughter of Andrew Hamilton, and came into public notice first in 1741, when he succeeded his father-in-law as recorder of Philadelphia. In 1750 he was made chief justice of Pennsylvania, which office he held four years. He gave his influence to assist Benjamin Franklin in founding the college of Philadelphia, and was a friend and patron of Benjamin West, the artist. He sympathized with the mother country, disapproved of war, and in 1774 left America for England, where he published "The American Crisis," in which he proposed a plan for reconciling the differences between England and her colonies. He died in England in September, 1780.