• Name: Allen, John
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date: 3  February  1771
• Death Date: 10  April  1843
• Occupation: political and historical writer

There are five Allens in the diary: Robert Allen, Lancelot Baugh Allen, William Allen, John Allen, and Allen, Parish Clerk. Allen, Parish Clerk appears once and is unidentified.

Robert Allen, cited in E.V. Lucas, The Life of Charles Lamb, pp.79-81, is linked with Christ's Hospital and Stoddart and thus appears to be the Allen of the 1790s, at least. There are a number of Allen entries associated with Stoddart who Lucas also links to Robert Allen and Godwin: 'for in 1796 we find Lamb telling Coleridge that Stoddart and Godwin are influencing Allen so undesirably that he has become a sceptic', pp. 81-2. The diary also tells us that 'surgery' and 'anatomy' where topics of conversation between Godwin and Allen - Robert Allen was a surgeon. Lucas goes on to state that Allen was appointed Deputy Surgeon to the Second Royale who were based in Portugal and but was back in England by 1802 (but perhaps earlier?) which confuses the issue.

Lancelot Baugh Allen (1775-1845) was Master of Dulwich College and a London Police Magistrate, and sat for a portrait done by Godwin’s acquaintance William Beechey. Baugh Allen was the son of John Bartlett Allen and his first wife. Catherine Allen Mackintosh, one of Baugh Allen's sisters, married the philosopher and lawyer James Mackintosh. Two of Baugh Allen's sisters married into the Wedgewood family. Jenny Allen married John Wedgewood and Elizabeth (Bessy) Allen married Josiah Wedgewood jr. A third sister, Jessie Allen, married the French economist Jean Charles Simonde de Sismondi. Godwin wrote to B Allen in 1832, but the letter is lost. Baugh Allen sups at Etruria in 1797 (the residence of Wedgwood) and there are a few examples in the 1790s of dinners including Wedgwoodand Mackintosh, and also the Allens (plural). The Wedgwoods and Allens also attend Mackintosh’s lecture around the same time.

William Allen (1770 – 1843) - thrice indicated with an initial ‘W’ in 1813–1814 started and maintained the quarterly journal The Philanthropist from 1811–1817. The journal discussed topical social reforms including monitorial education (DNB). The DNB also states that James Mills was a chief contributor, and in 1814 Godwin notes that Mills applies to W Allen, which could possibly be in relation to the journal. That year, Allen, along with Bentham, Robert Owen, and four other partners bought New Lanark Mills to establish a model industrial community (DNB). In a March 1813 entry, Godwin records ‘Owen calls: send to W Allen’ which connects Owen and Allen.

John Allen (1771–1843), political and historical writer, who was warden of Dulwich College from 1811 to 1820, and master from that year until his death. He was a member of the Holland House set from his 1805 return to England after a period abroad.

All plain 'Allen'entries up to and including 1797 have been coded as Robert Allen. As has the entry in 1803 (Lamb circle). Allens in 1799 have been coded as Baugh due to connections with Wedgwood circle. From 1805, Godwin appears to distinguish between Baugh Allen and John Allen, using plain 'Allen' for the latter (Robert Allen is now dead so hence no confusion). He has little contact with William Allen thus discounting him as a contender for any of the plain 'Allens'.

• DNB
• E.V. Lucas, The Life of Charles Lamb, 2 vols (1905, 7th edn. London: Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1921).
• Patrick O'Leary, Sir James Mackintosh: The Whig Cicero, Aberdeen, 1989

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.