Josiah W. Allen

portrait and miniature painter, decorator and drawing teacher, was born in Kent, England. Nothing is known of his early life, but he probably received some form of artistic training. After marrying (Mary) Anne Nicholls, they moved to Lancashire, where the baptisms of their first four children are recorded. In 1816 Allen was tried in the Lancashire courts for making and having in his possession a frame for forging banknotes and was sentenced to transportation; his wife received a similar sentence for having banknotes in her possession.

Allen reached Sydney aboard the convict ship Fame on 4 March 1817 and his wife and children followed in the Lord Melville later that year. On 11 October, he advertised in the Sydney Gazette as a portrait painter of 47 Pitt Street, offering 'Striking likenesses from One Guinea to Ten' and 'Drawing taught on reasonable terms'. Since there appear to have been few opportunities for portrait painters or art teachers in Sydney at this time, his advertisement went on to list other accomplishments, including 'Coach, Sign and Ornamental Painting: all kinds of Wood and Stone accurately initialled ... Guilding [sic] &c. Rooms done in imitation of papering in a superior style'.

A son, Benjamin, was born in 1820 and a daughter, Harriet, the following year. In November 1821 Allen and his wife were granted absolute pardons. Allen apparently continued as a general painter and decorator. In September 1832 he painted 'a very appropriate sign' showing Lords' cricket ground in London for the Cricketers' Hotel in Pitt Street, Sydney. He was listed in the New South Wales Calendar and General Post Office Directory as a miniature painter of Castlereagh Street in 1832, at 35 Upper Pitt Street between 1833 and 1837, but no miniature paintings have been identified.

Allen died at his home in Cumberland Street, Sydney, on 16 November 1838, aged about 65.

Staff Writer.