23 Facts About Harry Allan

Harry Howard Barton Allan was a New Zealand teacher, botanist, scientific administrator, and writer.

Harry Allan worked for many years as a teacher of English and agricultural studies at secondary schools around New Zealand.

Harry Allan often collaborated and spoke with botanists, such as Alfred and Leonard Cockayne.

Harry Allan became a member of the Linnean society and the New Zealand Institute, and was appointed a systematic botanist for the Plant Research Station in 1928.

Harry Allan died before it was published in 1957, aged 75.

Harry Allan was born on 27 April 1882 in Nelson, New Zealand.

Harry Allan began part of his university degree there.

In 1913 Harry Allan published an article in an academic journal, the New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, reporting the results of growing different potato varieties at Waitaki.

Harry Allan took charge of recording the results of experiments on the school farm.

Harry Allan left Ashburton and began working at Fielding Agricultural High School, where he was English master, in early 1922.

In 1927 Harry Allan received a grant from the Royal Society of London to spend three months studying New Zealand plant hybrids in the field; from this he published several studies.

Harry Allan's work was as part of a committee, including Cockayne and other scientists, researching many aspects affecting New Zealand agriculture, such as fungi and grasses.

In 1930 Harry Allan was made head of the botany section of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science and was sponsored by the Empire Marketing Board to travel to London.

Harry Allan gave a talk at the Linnean Society, where he formally received his fellowship, and attended a conference of the British Science Association in Bristol.

Harry Allan was made head of this department and was relocated in 1937 to Wellington where it became based.

Harry Allan retired in 1948, after more than a decade as head of the botany division.

Harry Allan travelled to London again in 1950 to view herbarium specimens held at Kew Gardens, attending the seventh International Botanical Congress in Sweden, and visiting Lapland with lichenologist Gustaf Einar Du Rietz.

Harry Allan died in Wellington, on 29 October 1957, aged 75.

Harry Allan was survived by his wife and two children.

In 1938 Harry Allan was made a corresponding member of the Swedish Phytogeographical Society, for his work in the discipline, and earlier assistance given to the society's president when he visited New Zealand in 1927.

In 1941 Harry Allan was awarded the Hutton Medal for his botanical research, followed by the Hector Memorial Medal and Prize in 1942, and finally was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to botany in New Zealand in the 1948 King's Birthday Honours.

Harry Allan married Hannah Louise Arnold on 7 September 1909 and had two children: one daughter and one son.

Harry Allan was a lover of books of many genres and could speak Swedish, which he learnt to keep up with botanical news from the country.