The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Allen, James
Allen, James, was born at Birmingham in 1806, and educated at Horton College. He was for some time a reporter on the Morning Post, but emigrated to Adelaide, South Australia, where he started the Times and aided in establishing the South Australian Register. In the year 1857 he went to Melbourne, where he edited the Herald and started the Mail, the first penny evening paper issued in that city. In 1865 Mr. Allen removed to Hobart, Tasmania, and edited the Mercury, afterwards starting the Evening Mail. Mr. Allen then went to New Zealand, and conducted the Auckland Evening News till 1870, when he returned to Victoria and purchased the Camperdown Chronicle, of which he remained owner till 1880. Mr. Allen, who died in 1886, published a "History of Australia" in 1882.