1st Viscount Allen

JOHN ALLEN, the founder of this family in Ireland, settled there some time towards the close of ELIZABETH I's reign.

He came from Holland to Dublin as factor for the Dutch merchants (the family had emigrated from England to Holland in 1580), and beside amassing a very large fortune, distinguished himself by a refined taste in architecture.

Mr Allen was greatly esteemed, and consulted by the most eminent of the nobility and gentry in their buildings; particularly by the Earl of Strafford, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in his large, intended edifice near Naas, County Kildare.

Mr Allen laid out the plan of his own house at Mullynahack, near Dublin, leaving it to be executed by his son.

He died ca 1641, and was father of

SIR JOSHUA ALLEN, an eminent and opulent merchant of Dublin, who served the office of Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1673, and received the honour of knighthood.

Sir Joshua, High Sheriff of Dublin City, 1664, completed the house at Mullynahack begun by his father, called "Allen's Court."

He married Mary, daughter of John Wybrow, of Cheshire, and had issue,

JOHN, his heir;
Eleanor; Elizabeth; Mary.

Sir Joshua died in 1691, and was succeeded by his son,

THE RT HON JOHN ALLEN (1660-1726), Privy Counsellor, High Sheriff of County Dublin, 1691, MP for County Dublin, 1692-3, County Carlow, 1695-9, County Dublin, 1703-13, County Wicklow, 1713-14, County Dublin, 1715-17.

Mr Allen wedded, in 1684, Mary, daughter of the Rt Hon Robert FitzGerald, and sister of Robert, 19th Earl of Kildare, and had issue,

JOSHUA, his successor;
Robert;
Richard, father of the 4th and 5th Viscounts.

He was elevated to the peerage, in 1717, in the dignities of Baron Allen, of Stillorgan, County Dublin, and VISCOUNT ALLEN, County Kildare.

His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,

JOSHUA, 2nd Viscount (1685-1742), MP for County Kildare, 1709-26, who espoused, in 1707, Margaret, daughter of Samuel du Pass, of Epsom, Surrey, and had issue,

JOHN, his successor;
Frances; Elizabeth.

His lordship was succeeded by his son and heir,

JOHN, 3rd Viscount (1713-45), MP for Carysfort, 1733-42; who, being insulted in the public streets by some disorderly dragoons, in 1742, received a wound in the hand, which occasioned a fever and caused his death soon afterwards.

Since he died unmarried, his sisters became his heirs, and the title devolved upon his first cousin (refer to the children of the Hon Richard Allen, youngest son of the 1st Viscount),

JOHN, 4th Viscount, MP for County Wicklow, 1742-5, at whose decease unmarried, in 1753, the honours passed to his next brother,

JOSHUA, 5th Viscount (1728-1816), MP for Eye, 1762-70, who married, in 1781, Frances, daughter of Gaynor Barry, and had issue,

JOSHUA WILLIAM, his successor;
Letitia Dorothea; Frances Elizabeth.

His lordship was succeeded by his son and heir,

JOSHUA WILLIAM, 6th Viscount (c1782-1845), a military officer, who served under the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular Wars.

His lordship died unmarried, when the title expired.

STILLORGAN HOUSE, Stillorgan, County Dublin, was begun in 1695 by John Allen MP, afterwards 1st Viscount Allen.

It comprised a two-storey, seven-bay centre block, and single storey, seven-bay wings.

The house had dormered attics and high-pitched roofs.

The centre block had lofty, slender chimneys, two at each end.

The demesne had formal gardens, an obelisk, and a grotto by Sir Edward Lovett Pearce.

The mansion was demolished in 1860 and only the grotto and obelisk remain.

First published in August, 2018.  Allen arms courtesy of European Heraldry.