The Allen Collection

Background to the Collection

Background to the Collection

The Allen Collection first came to the attention of  Ships Nostalgia member Ian Brazendale through the curator of the Martello Tower/Museum at Pembroke Dock. Two elderly ladies had been clearing the house of their late brother and wanted to find a good home for his collection of shipping photographs. The museum accepted them out of courtesy, but they had nowhere to display them. A number of nautical museums were approached about the collection but showed little interest.

On first inspection, the collection was found to consist of several boxes of photographs - mainly British merchant ships - going back over 60 years. They were  indexed and listed by company, and included ships from both well-known and lesser-known shipping companies.

Each photo had hand-written notes on the back giving the ship’s name and other information. There was also a boxed collection of Sea Breeze magazines going back 20 years, and an HMSO gazette listing the names of every merchant ship lost in World War 2. On further investigation, more boxes of photographs were discovered at another location taking the total number to over 6,000. Clearly this was a lifetime’s work of collection and cataloguing by two very dedicated and knowledgeable people.

Sadly we have been unable to find out more than the sketchiest details of the collectors. We know that Mr. W Allen was a merchant seaman, and that his son Frank helped his father with the collection but had not been a seaman himself.

If you have any additional information about the Allens please email the Webmaster of this site: brian@www.benjidog.co.uk.

Credits