Born in 1895 one of the four sons of Sir John Sandeman Allen (1865-1935), general manager and afterwards vice-chairman of the Union Marine Insurance Company and MP for the West Derby division of Liverpool; his mother was Amy Spencer, he was educated at Gresham's School and King's College, Cambridge, where he had one term in 1914. He was then commissioned in the Liverpool Scottish, saw active service in France and was several times wounded. He was at King's again 1919-20 and played Rugby football for the College. He took his clinical training at St Thomas's where he later held resident posts, after a house surgeoncy at the Royal Northern Hospital. Sandeman Allen went into practice at Cheltenham in 1930 and joined the staff of the General Hospital in 1933. He was also on the staff of the hospitals at Cirencester, Bourton-on-the-Water, Moreton-in-Marsh, and Evesham. When war broke out again in 1939 he went on active service in France and afterwards was attached to the Eighth Army in the Western Desert, as a Lieutenant-Colonel RAMC in command of a casualty clearing station. He was created OBE for his war service. After his return to Cheltenham he took up his large gynaecological practice and was appointed consultant gynaecologist to the North-East Gloucester area under the South-Western Regional Hospitals Board. Sandeman Allen married in 1930 Margaret Sylvia Harries, who survived him with their two daughters. He died a week before he was due to retire from his official appointments on 30 June 1960 aged 64. He was an energetic sports-loving man of open-hearted, honest and punctilious character, with highly skilled hands. He was a cabinet-maker and conjurer, and out of doors enjoyed shooting, swimming and golf. In younger days he had been a fine Rugby player. He held high rank in Freemasonry, was an honorary Lieutenant-Colonel in the Territorial Reserve, and was senior medical officer to Cheltenham race-course. Publications: Variation in the female pelvis, with C Nicholson. *Lancet* 1946, 2, 192. Haematometra caused by disappearance of the cervical canal after labour. *J Obstet Gynaec Brit Emp* 1947, 54, 377.