Douglas Allen, Baron Croham

Douglas Albert Vivian Allen, Baron Croham GCB FRSA (15 December 1917 – 11 September 2011) was a British politician and civil servant.

The son of Albert John Allen, Douglas Allen was only one when his father was killed in action during the First World War. Allen was educated at Wallington County Grammar School and at the London School of Economics (LSE), where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in statistics in 1938. During the Second World War, from 1940 to 1945, he served in the Royal Artillery. Having entered the British Civil Service, Allen worked in the Board of Trade between 1939 and 1947, and in Her Majesty's Treasury between 1948–58.

In 1958, he became a Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Health, a post he held until 1960, when he changed to Her Majesty's Treasury again. Made a Third Secretary in 1962 and a Permanent Secretary in 1966, he worked for the Department of Economic Affairs (1964–68). Allen was Permanent Secretary of Her Majesty's Treasury from 1968 to 1974, and Permanent Secretary of the Civil Service Department and Head of the Home Civil Service (1974–77).

Allen was chairman of British National Oil Corporation (BNOC) from 1982 to 1986, of Guinness Peat Group (1982–87), and of Trinity Insurance Ltd (1987–92). He was president of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS; 1978–92), and of the British Institute of Energy Economics (1986–94). He was chairman of the Anglo-German Foundation (1982–98). He was a governor of the London School of Economics (LSE) (1977–2004) and of the Wallington County Grammar School (1993–2003). He was member of the First Division Association (FDA) and vice-president of the Anglo-German Association. He was a member of the Institute of Directors and a companion of the British Institute of Management.

Allen was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and was made an Honorary Doctor of Social Science (DSocSc) by the University of Southampton. In 1963, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the Bath (CB), in 1967 a Knight Commander of the same Order (KCB), and in 1973, a Knight Grand Cross of the same Order (GCB). On 8 February 1978, he was created a life peer as Baron Croham, of the London Borough of Croydon.

Allen was married to Sybil Eileen Allegro from 1941–94, when his wife died; the couple had two sons and a daughter.

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