{{Short description|British army officer and diver (1875–1960)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Use British English|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox military person | name = Walter Allason | image = Walter Allason DSO.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Brigadier General Walter Allason in 1922 | nickname = | birth_date = {{birth date|1875|10|25|df=yes}} | birth_place = Paddington, London, England | death_date = {{death date and age|1960|1|11|1875|10|25|df=yes}} | death_place = London, England | burial_place = | allegiance = {{flag|United Kingdom}} | branch = {{army|United Kingdom}} | service_years = 1894–1925 | rank = Brigadier General | commands = 52nd Brigade (1918–1925)<br/>1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment (1914–1918) | unit = Manchester Regiment<br>Bedfordshire Regiment | service_number = | battles = Second Boer War<br/>First World War | awards = Distinguished Service Order & Bar | alma_mater = Royal Military College, Sandhurst | spouse = {{marriage|Katharine Hamilton Poland|18 August 1908|1913|end=d.}} | children = James Allason<br/>Dolores Celina Allason | relations = Thomas Allason (grandfather) | other_work = }} Brigadier General '''Walter Allason''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100|DSO1}} (25 October 1875<ref name="Beds">{{cite web|url=http://bedfordregiment.org.uk/1stbn/1stbtnphotos1.html|title=1st Bn Officers photos and bios (1)|website=bedfordregiment.org.uk|access-date=2019-04-15}}</ref> – 11 January 1960) was an English swimmer, diver, and a senior officer of the British Army who distinguished himself in battle during the First World War.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/8597474/Lt-Col-James-Allason.html|title=Lt-Col James Allason|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=2011-06-24|access-date=2019-04-15|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2011/jul/07/james-allason-obituary-soldier-mp|title=James Allason obituary|last=Langdon|first=Julia|date=2011-07-07|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-04-15|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
==Early life and career== Walter Allason was born in Paddington in London on 25 October 1875, the son of Elizabeth Thomazine ''née'' Allen (1844–1925) and Alfred Allason (1840–1890), a retired officer of the Royal Marines.<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/7572/LNDRG11_5_10-0591/13036757?backurl=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/107596125/person/410089013763/facts 1881 England Census for Walter Allason, London, Paddington, St Mary Paddington – Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref><ref name="Burke's Landed Gentry 1965, p. 9">Burke's Landed Gentry, eighteenth edition, vol. I, ed. Peter Townend, 1965, Burke's Peerage Ltd, p. 9</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|date=2011-06-23|title=Lt-Col James Allason: War hero who became an MP and formulated the Tory policy of selling council houses to tenants|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lt-col-james-allason-war-hero-who-became-an-mp-and-formulated-the-tory-policy-of-selling-council-2301293.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-07-17|website=The Independent|language=en}}</ref> He was the grandson of the architect Thomas Allason.<ref name="Burke's Landed Gentry 1965, p. 9"/> The 1891 Census records Walter Allason as a scholar at Bourne Hill School and reading for the Army Exam.<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/6598/MDXRG12_1082_1084-0441?pid=15238270&treeid=&personid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=djv3489&_phstart=successSource 1891 England Census for Walter Allason: Middlesex, Edmonton – Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref> He passed out of the Royal Military College at Sandhurst as a gentleman cadet, following which he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 4th (Reserve) Battalion, Manchester Regiment on 23 July 1894, and was promoted to lieutenant in 1896. He was transferred to the Bedfordshire Regiment as a second lieutenant on 9 December 1896 and was promoted back to lieutenant on 1 July 1898.<ref name="Beds" />
After service in the Second Boer War, Allason was seconded for service in the Foreign Office in 1902.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/27487/page/6737/data.pdf|title=Live Battalions|last=|first=|date=|website=The London Gazette|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref> He was promoted to major in October 1913 and was appointed second-in-command of the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment when it was posted to France on 16 August 1914, at the start of the First World War.
Allason was wounded in action and in 1915 was awarded his the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). He was wounded again on Hill 60 in April 1915 and after his recovery he was appointed to command the 8th (Service) Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, but rejoined the 1st Battalion for the Battle of the Somme in 1916. He was awarded a Bar to his DSO for the Somme, possibly as a result of the battalion's attack on Falfemont Farm in September 1916.<ref name="Beds" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/45458-walter-allason/|title=Walter Allason|website=Great War Forum|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-04-15}}</ref> The citation for the Bar reads:<blockquote> Maj. (temp. Lt.-Col.) Walter Allason, D.S.O., Bedf. R. For conspicuous gallantry in action. He executed an attack with the greatest initiative and resource, thereby enabling a strong enemy position to be captured. He handled his battalion with great skill throughout the operations. </blockquote>
Allason was wounded for a third time in December 1916 when, inspecting the trenches at the front line, he was accidentally shot by a young and jumpy subaltern. The wound was serious enough for Allason to be removed from duty, only able to return to the command of the 1st Battalion after the war. In 1918,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sKn9CQAAQBAJ&q=walter+allason&pg=PA312|title=Morland – Great War Corps Commander: War Diaries & Letters, 1914–1918|last=Thompson|first=Bill|date=2015-06-28|publisher=Troubador Publishing Ltd|isbn=9781784622787|language=en}}</ref> Allason was promoted to temporary brigadier general in April 1918<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30700|page=6085|date=21 May 1918|supp=y}}</ref> and was appointed to command the 52nd Infantry Brigade, part of the 17th (Northern) Division, taking over from Brigadier General Archibald James Fergusson Eden after he was wounded, and commanding it until after the war ended due to the Armistice with Germany.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/warstudies/index.aspx|title=Centre for War Studies – University of Birmingham|website=www.birmingham.ac.uk|access-date=2019-04-15}}</ref>
Allason was promoted to brigadier general and placed on the retired list on 25 October 1925 when he reached 50 years of age, the compulsory retirement age for officers.
==Personal life== On 18 August 1908, Captain Allason married Katharine Hamilton Poland (1885–1913), the daughter of the retired Vice Admiral James Augustus Poland.<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1623/31280_198697-00347?pid=3930019&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D1623%26h%3D3930019%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3Ddjv3485%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=djv3485&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.173684899.1653898775.1590610211-1197399642.1515349816 London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754–1932 for Walter Allason: Kensington and Chelsea, St Peter, Cranley Gardens, 1907–1920 – Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref> In 1911 he, his wife and daughter Dolores Celina Allason (1909–1993) were living at The Glen in Upper Hale in Farnham in Surrey.<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/2352/rg14_03129_0255_03?pid=41640327&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D2352%26h%3D41640327%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3Ddjv3487%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=djv3487&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.168426529.1653898775.1590610211-1197399642.1515349816 1911 England Census for Walter Allason: Surrey, Farnham – Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref> His son, James Allason (1912–2011) was raised primarily by a great-aunt, following the death of his mother in 1913, who was protecting the infant James in a fall down some stairs. James went on to become a British Conservative Party politician, sportsman, and a lieutenant colonel, who worked with The Earl Mountbatten and Winston Churchill.
===Diving=== thumb|140px|left|Diving medal awarded to Allason at Aldershot in 1924
In 1896, 1897, 1902, 1908, 1909 and 1922, Allason won the English Plunging (diving) Championship<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Brigadier-General Walter Allason DSO|url=http://westfrontassoc.mtcdevserver.com/great-war-people/the-british-generals-biographies/2610-brigadier-general-walter-allason-dso.html#sthash.Ld5qTO29.dpbs|access-date=2019-04-15|website=westfrontassoc.mtcdevserver.com|language=en-gb}}</ref> and the Aldershot Command Officers' Challenge Cup in 1912.<ref name="Beds" /> In 1924, as a lieutenant colonel, he won a first place medal in the Plunging category in the Inter Unit Team Swimming Competition at Aldershot Command.<ref>Medal in the Glenn Christodoulou Collection</ref>
===After retirement=== In 1939, listed as a widower, Allason was living at Brackley in Northamptonshire with his daughter. At that time he was the Area Chief Warden in the Air Raid Precautions (ARP), while his daughter was attached to a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) in a Mobile Unit.<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/61596/tna_r39_6133_6133b_008?pid=37063371&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D61596%26h%3D37063371%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3Ddjv3490%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=djv3490&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.168967201.1653898775.1590610211-1197399642.1515349816 1939 England and Wales Register for Walter Allason: Northamptonshire, Brackley RD – Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref>
His book ''Military Mapping and Reports'' was published in 1940 by Duckworth Books,<ref>{{cite web|title=Military mapping and reports|url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1500007853|access-date=2020-07-17|website=Imperial War Museums|language=en}}</ref> and went through six editions by the time of his death.
Brigadier General Walter Allason died in London in January 1960, at the age of 84.
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allason, Walter}} Category:1875 births Category:1960 deaths Category:People from Paddington Category:Sportspeople from the City of Westminster Category:British Army brigadier-generals Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Category:Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment officers Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Category:Military personnel from the City of Westminster Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Category:English male divers Category:British Army generals of World War I Category:Manchester Regiment officers