Percival Allen

Abstract Black-and-white photograph of Percival Allen. Percival Allen was born and raised in Brede, a small village in East Sussex, located on Lower Cretaceous Wealden strata. His interests spanned the natural sciences. He devoted his life to geology, primarily researching the character and palaeoenvironments of the Wealden sediments in both the Weald and Wessex depositional basins, especially the former in its type area. His first publication, written when an undergraduate student at the University of Reading, discussed the geological succession of the Brede area. At the early age of 35 he succeeded to the chair of geology at Reading and during the following 40 years built a geology department that gained a global reputation for excellence in sedimentological research. He made numerous contributions to the growth of the university, notably as dean of science at a critical period in the 1960s. On the national stage, he became Vice-President of the Royal Society, promoted European cooperation and was a leader in the growing independent British geoconservation movement.