Allen was born in
Dartford,
Kent, England as Edith Doreen Allchin, one of ten children of Mary Ann
née Amos (1838–1924) and John James Allchin (1836–1903), a builder. In 1905 she married Melville Hodsoll Allen (1879–1932) who worked at the
Stock Exchange in London and who served in
World War I as a captain in the
Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment. Following Allen's arrest in March 1912 for taking part in a window smashing campaign she appeared at
Bow Street Magistrates' Court on 12 March 1912, before being sent for trial at the London Sessions on 19 March 1912. She was sentenced to four months imprisonment in
Holloway Prison for "causing willful damage." She went on
hunger strike in prsion and was
force-fed. A fellow-prisoner in Holloway was
Mary Ann Aldham and the signatures of the two appear on
The Suffragette Handkerchief embroidered by
Janie Terrero. On another occasion some of the women performed a scene from
The Merchant of Venice with
Evaline Hilda Burkitt as
Shylock and the role of Narissa played by Allen. On her release Allen resumed her political activities on behalf of
women's suffrage. When WSPU leader
Emmeline Pankhurst returned to Great Britain from America in late 1913, she was met at
Plymouth by a group suffragettes which included Allen. As Pankhurst disembarked from the
Majestic she was arrested under the
Cat and Mouse Act and taken to
Exeter Prison. Allen's nephew was Sir Geoffrey Cuthbert Allchin KCBE, CMG, MC (1895–1968), British Ambassador in
Morocco. == See also ==