{{Short description|American judge (1894–1948)}}
'''Allen Banks Burch''' (1894 – May 31, 1948) was a justice of the Kansas Supreme Court from January 8, 1945, to May 31, 1948.<ref name="Manhattan-1948-06-08">{{cite news |title=8 Jun 1948, 1 - The Manhattan Mercury at Newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/423510116/?terms=%22Austin%2BM.%2BCowan%22%2BBurch |accessdate=11 July 2020 |work=Newspapers.com |language=en}}</ref>
He was elected to the supreme court to fill the seat vacated by the retirement of justice John Shaw Dawson.<ref>{{cite news |title=3 Jan 1945, 3 - The Weekly Kansas City Star at Newspapers.com |url=https://newspapers.com/image/655771088/?terms=%22Allen%2BBurch%22%2B%22John%2BDawson%22 |accessdate=25 July 2020 |work=Newspapers.com |language=en}}</ref> He stood as a Republican for position 7 on the court,<ref name="republican">{{cite news |title=Lawrence Daily Journal World Archives, Jul 29, 1944, p. 3 |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/lawrence-daily-journal-world-jul-29-1944-p-3/ |accessdate=25 July 2020 |work=NewspaperArchive.com |date=29 July 1944 |language=en}}</ref> and when elected was the youngest member of the court.<ref name="IolaReg1948Jun01">{{cite news |title=1 Jun 1948, Page 4 - The Iola Register at Newspapers.com |url=https://newspapers.com/image/4902245/?terms=%22Allen%2BB%2BBurch%22 |accessdate=25 July 2020 |work=Newspapers.com |language=en}}</ref> He was succeeded by Austin M. Cowan after his unexpected death.<ref name="Manhattan-1948-06-08" /> This was a temporary appointment pending an election of Robert T. Price who completed the unexpired term of Burch.<ref name="Manhattan-1948-11-29">{{cite news |title=29 Nov 1948, 1 - The Manhattan Mercury at Newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/423578627/?terms=%22Austin%2BM.%2BCowan%22%2BRobert%2BPrice |accessdate=11 July 2020 |work=Newspapers.com |language=en}}</ref>
He wrote the minority opinion for the 1947 Reorganization Act that invalidated all sections of the 1945 Reorganization Act deemed to violate the state constitution.<ref name="Reorganization 1947">{{cite news |title=29 Jun 1947, 1 - The Manhattan Mercury at Newspapers.com |url=https://newspapers.com/image/423521333/?terms=%22Allen%2BB%2BBurch%22 |accessdate=25 July 2020 |work=Newspapers.com |language=en}}</ref>
He was a member of the American Bar Association and the Kansas Bar Association.<ref name="The Shield Obit" /> He had also been the vice president and counsel to The Morris Plan bank of Kansas.<ref>{{cite news |title=26 Dec 1936, Page 10 - The Catholic Advance at Newspapers.com |url=https://newspapers.com/image/180108913/?terms=%22Allen%2BB%2BBurch%22 |accessdate=25 July 2020 |work=Newspapers.com |language=en}}</ref>
He was born in Carthage, Missouri in 1894 to a medical doctor,<ref name="memoriam">{{cite book |title=Kansas Judicial Council Bulletin (Part 2) |date=July 1948 |url=http://kansasjudicialcouncil.org/publications/archived/Reports%20and%20Bulletins/1948%20July.pdf |accessdate=11 July 2020}}</ref> growing up in Fredonia, Kansas.<ref name="The Shield Obit" /> As a child he visited Europe with his father, and saw art and culture that inspired him to later take up oil painting.<ref name="memoriam" /> He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1917,<ref name="The Shield Obit" /> took the bar exam in June 1917<ref name="bar-exam">{{cite news |title=The Topeka Daily Capital, 23 May 1917 "50 to Take Bar Exam" |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/489533/the-topeka-daily-capital-23-may-1917/ |accessdate=25 July 2020 |work=The Topeka Daily Capital |date=23 May 1917 |pages=5}}</ref> and joined an old law firm in Wichita.<ref name="memoriam" /> His career was interrupted by World War I in which he served.<ref name="memoriam" /> He returned from the war to practice law in Wichita until he was elected to the supreme court.<ref name="The Shield Obit" />
He was currently living in Wichita, Kansas when he died in Topeka, Kansas from a heart attack May 31, 1948.<ref name="The Shield Obit">{{cite book |title=The Shield of Phi Kappa Psi |date=November 1948 |pages=152 |url=http://phikappapsi.archeios.com/files/2012/03/1948-49_vol69_no1-4.pdf |accessdate=25 July 2020}}</ref> He had the fatal attack whilst playing bridge with his wife and friends.<ref name="IolaReg1948Jun01" /> He left behind his wife May, a son Howard M. Burch and two daughters Joan Burch and Betty Dreher.<ref name="The Shield Obit" />
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box |title=Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court |before=John Shaw Dawson |after=Austin M. Cowan |years=1945–1948}} {{s-end}}
== External links == * [https://billiongraves.com/grave/Allen-Banks-Burch/18893140 Grave image from the Old Mission Cemetery in Wichita]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burch, Allen Banks}} Category:Justices of the Kansas Supreme Court Category:University of Kansas alumni Category:American military personnel of World War I Category:1894 births Category:1948 deaths Category:20th-century American judges
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