Dame Eleanor Allan

Dame Eleanor Allan (b.?–1708), founder of Dame Allan’s School, Newcastle. Eleanor Allan, a widow, ran a tobacconist business in the late 1600s. She bought a farm in Wallsend, North Tynside, which she sold and then used the proceeds to establish a school. The school opened a year after her death.

The figure of Eleanor Allan is in a yellow stone aedicule high on the gable end wall of College House. She is depicted wearing a mediaeval cloak and holding a book. It is thought the statue was installed around the time the building was put up in 1882, when the school transferred there.

Bibl.: P. Usherwood, J. Beach & C. Morris, Public Sculpture of North-East England, 2000, LUP, p. 145.

Location: West façade, College House (now Careers Centre), Northumberland Road, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear.