Edinburgh sculptor, decorative carver and mosaic artist, he was a part-time teacher at Glasgow School of Art under Benno Schotz, and at Edinburgh College of Art under Eric Schilsky. He carried out numerous independent commissions for decorative sculpture, such as the interior capitals in the Robin Chapel at the Thistle Foundation, Niddrie Mains Road (1950–53), as well as the colossal statue in Blaxter stone of St Francis Xavier on the eponymous RC church in Falkirk (1961). He is principally remembered, however, for his association with Hew Lorimer, with whom he formed the partnership of Lorimer & Allan (c.1932), with premises at Bonnington Toll, Edinburgh. As well as contributing to the sculpture scheme on the National Library of Scotland, he assisted Lorimer in the carving and erection of Our Lady of the Isles on the isle of South Uist (1957), and also carved Our Lady, Star of the Sea on the isle of Barra from Lorimer’s design.
Bibliography: M. Forrest, A Guide to Hew Lorimer, the MoD Rocket Range and Our Lady of the Isles, Bornais, South Uist, 2020, pp. 37–39, 53–61, 73, 81, 86; W.T. Johnston, Dictionary of Scottish Artists (c.2000), Scottish National Library, ref CD-ROM.585; R. McKenzie, Public Sculpture of Edinburgh (2 vols), Liverpool, 2018, vol. 1, p. 154.
Ray McKenzie 2018