Charles Phillip Allen was born
in Liverpool on 3rd April 1899, the son of Herbert P Allen, variously
described as an organist, teacher of music, or ‘professor of singing’. On or
around his birth the family were living at 32 Falkner Street L8, later moving
(1911 census) to 33 Huskisson Street L8.
Little more is known about his early life but after
joining the Royal Flying Corps as an officer cadet on 26 September 1917 he was
commissioned as a Temporary Second Lieutenant, aged just 18. On 5 April 1918 he was posted to 204
Squadron RAF and between 29th June and 4th November
astonishingly shot down 7 Fokker D VII’s flying a Sopwith Camel. This
extraordinary feat earned Allen two awards from Belgium, being gazetted a Chevalier
de l’Ordre de la Couronne ("Knight of the Order of the Crown") on
8 February 1919, and being awarded the Croix de Guerre by His Majesty the King of the Belgians on 15 July 1919.
Of his life after the war the
evidence is slim. It does seem likely that he studied medicine as a The
Scotsman shows a Charles Phillip Allen MC ChB Liverpool Univ. admitted to
Royal College of Surgeons Liverpool in 1925. His parents were still living at
33 Huskisson Street in 1939 and probate records suggest that Charles Allen died
in 1974 at Ince Blundell Convalescent Home, leaving an estate of £45,090.
