[ transcription of Obituary Notice in the Year Book of the Congregational Union of England & Wales for 1893, page 202, from a copy in Dr Williams's Library, London ]
. . . , who for nearly half a century was the pastor of the church assembling at Union Chapel, Islington, and who gathered from all classes of men the respect and affection which he so richly deserved, as a man of letters, as a faithful minister of Christ, as a leader in all philanthropic movements, and as a pioneer in the much needed reform of the service of song in the house of the Lord, was born at Welton, near Hull, October 13th, 1818. He entered on business employmemts at Beverley, where he joined ghe Congregational Church, and began to preach at the early age of seventeen; yet his early training at school and in business was not of a character to shadow forth the eminence he achieved in many departments of service.
His pronounced Christian character, and his efforts to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, arrested the attention of Alderman Challis, the Rev. James Sherman, and the Rev. Alexander Stewart, of High Barnet, by whose influence he was received as a student of Cheshunt College in the year 1839. There, under the teaching of the Rev. John Harris, D.D., the Rev. Philip Smith, B.A., and the Rev. Joseph Sortain, A.M., he made startling progress. His work was thorough and conscientious in all department of literature, philosophy, and theology. He won the College honours; and we have reason to know that he revealed to the tutors, of whom he always spoke in terms of gratitude and affection, the promise of his subsequent career.
In commenting upon the competitive examinations to which he was submitted, he referred not infrequently to the stimulus and encouragement he received from the approval of an examiner, the Rev. James Hamilton, D.D., who made a special report upon his exegetical studies of the New Testament. We have seen a letter written by Dr. Harris, who said, "I have a young man now at Cheshunt who, if health and strength are given him, will soon equal if not outstep us all." His curriculum was somewhat abbreviated by the concurrence of an urgent invitation in the spring of 1843 to become the assistant of the Rev. T. Lewis, of Union Chapel, Islington, with the illness and absence of his esteemed and beloved Principal, and before the close of the session 1842-3 Mr Allon entered upon the long career of service which has only just terminated.
At that time Union Chapel derived its distinctive title from the congregation being a union of Evangelical Churchmen with Nonconformists, and for many years this fellowship was signalised by the use of the Liturgy of the Anglican Church at one of the services on the Lord's Day. After this custom had been disused in 1845, as no longer required by the exigencies of the congregation, the old tablets and communion table adorned the schoolroom or lecture hall of the chapel.
Mr. Allon was ordained on the 12th June, 1844, when Rev. James Bennett, D.D., delivered the introductory discourse, Mr Henry Spicer, sen., made the statement on behalf of the Church, the Rev. James Sherman offered the ordination prayer, the Rev. Dr. Harris gave the charge to the minister, and Rev. H. Allon himself preached on the following Sunday on the work and qualifications of the Christian ministry.
Some of us can well remember how in 1844 and onwards Mr. Allon took the town by storm. His raven locks, his remarkable eyes of deep blue, his blanched face, his refined expression, his musical though not very powerful voice, his impetuous delivery or rather reading of highly-wrought discourse, his boldness of theme and fresh exposition of remarkable texts, not only riveted the attention of the elder members of the congregation, but called young men around him in great numbers, and enabled him to originate Bible-classes of young people, which exercised a potent life-giving power. From first to last he never assumed the manner of the popular preacher. His appeals to the emotions of his hearers were far less frequent than his strenuous effort to convince their understanding, and persuade them that the Gospel of Christ was the highest philosophy, the soundest common sense, and the one method by which the sinful man would be, or could be reconciled to God and to his holy will.
Rev. T. Lewis died February 29th, 1852, and in March, 1852, Mr. Allon became sole pastor of the church. His spiritual power was seen in the profound interest taken in foreign missions, in ragged schools, in Sunday-school enlargement, in repeated expansion of his territory. In 1861 Union Chapel was enlarged and beautified, and in 1874 the first steps were taken to rebuild the chapel on an extended foundation, and the noble structure, now to be for ever associated with the zenith of his strength and usefulness, was opened in 1877.
Of the character of his pulpit teaching much may be gathered from the volume entitled, "The Vision of God and other Sermons," published in 1876. One of the most remarkable of these sermons was preached in Yale College Chapel, New Haven, in 1870. A second volume was only published a few weeks after his lamented departure, and is entitled "The Indwelling Christ and other Sermons." One of these discourses on "The Constraint of the Love of Christ, or, Paul's Passion for Christ," is we think a fine and rich specimen of exalted Christian teaching, its logic being on fire with passionate and pleading love.
The enormous strain of the pulpit work for his new and noble sanctuary was only a small fraction of his various efforts to help his brethren, young as well as old, throughout the three kingdoms and in America, where he made extensive journeys, and proclaimed his great message. His reputation as a preacher in the United States, coupled with his numerous other claims upon such distinctions, secured for him the diploma of D.D. from Yale University, which was afterwards supplemented by a similar honour from the University of St. Andrews.
Other literary work of exhausting kind occupied his attention. From 1866 to 1886 he was editor of the British Quarterly Review. During the first eight years he had associated with him Principal Reynolds of Cheshunt College.
From Dr. Allon's knowledge of business and widely-extended acquaintance with books and men, he was able to secure the help of the first writers in England, and to provide a thoroughgoing literary review of the most important books of each quarter. A very large number of these notices were by his own pen. The energy and enthusiasm he threw into this responsible work can never be known. The generosity and the acute criticism, the painstaking and courage were above all praise.
He also wrote in 1863 a memoir of the Rev. James Sherman, into which he threw so much heart, so much knowledge of Cheshunt College, of the Connexion of the Countess of Huntingdon, and of Surrey Chapel, and so fine a light upon the numerous theological and ecclesiastical movements touched by Mr. Sherman, that the volume becomes an important historical record of Nonconformist energy during the present century. Dr. Allon also edited a posthumous volume of Dr. Thomas Binney's sermons, with a delicately appreciative memorial of that king of men. In one of the volumes of the Jubilee Lectures, he published an important paper on "Laud and the Puritans."
It must be remembered that he wrote the remarkable paper on"Christian Worship" in the first series of >>Ecclesia<<. This, again, was associated with one of the noblest works of his life, his contribution to the Hymnody and Psalmody of the Free Churches. He was mainly instrumental in originating "The New Congregational Hymn Book," and his supplements in later years to that work led him to the final preparation of his Congregational Psalmist Hymnal, which embodied the best results of all his work not only in hymnology but in church music. Some 300,000 copies of his "Congregatonal Psalmist" in its various forms and editions, with and without chants and anthems, have been circulated throughout the world, and stimulated other workers in the same field. His knowledge of music and its history, his appreciation of choral harmony, his love of sweet melodies, the fire and accuracy with which he poured out his noble tenor, and the enthusiasm with which he presided over his psalmody class, made it not remarkable that the choir which gathered round him in two serried hosts on a Sunday morning was a sight to see and a joy to hear. There has been perhaps, no nobler Congregational psalmody in England than that which he did so much to fashion, to stimulate, and furnish with the finest collections of sacred choral music.
Amid his abundant labours for the cause of his Master, perhaps there was no object that had a warmer place in his heart than the prosperity of Cheshunt College. He was, after the death of Mr. Sherman, appointed its honorary secretary, and in 1864, its ministerial trustee, as well as one of the trustees of the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion. The amount of time he was able to devote to these institutions is very remarkable. He was chairman of the college committees, the friend and brother of all its tutors, the father and counsellor of all its students, twice chosen as the chairman of the anniversary festival (1880 and 1889), and twice the preacher of its annual sermon (1856 and 1874). He was not absent more than twice during fifty years from its festivals. At the anniversaries of all its village stations he gave of his very best, and has laid the college under measureless obligations by his sympathy and liberality, and by the sacrifice of his time, thought, and strength to its various interests.
Dr Allon revealed a rare combination of powers. His will was strong and masterful, but his heart was tender and simple as a child's. He had the genius of urgent, tireless work, the power of persistence and of waiting, and he maintained the enthusiasm of youth until the snows of seventy years had fallen on him. His penetrative insight and strong, clear judgment, and the incisive expression of it made his friendship invaluable, but love and gentleness to suffering or need such as his were the special gifts granted only to very strong men.
He received the highest honours that his own community could offer him. He was the only man who has twice filled the chair of the Congregational Union, 1864 and 1881, and on both occasions he did so with consummate ability. The autumnal meetings were held at Hull and Manchester. Other churches also did him honour. He was chosen to represent Nonconformity at the Mansion House, when his old friend, Lord Mayor Whitehead, invited the Bishops to meet the Nonconformist ministers of London; but the most surprising demonstrations were made in his honour when the final extinction of the debt upon Union Chapel and its tower was celebrated in 1889. The Lord Mayor presided, and a representative assembly gathered around Dr. Allon, when abundant proof was given of the fervour of affection with which he was regarded by his own people and by surrounding churches of all denominations.
Within a few weeks of the close of his noble life, on March 24th, 1892, another scene of transcendent interest occurred. He and the Church had selected the Rev. W. H. Harwood as his co-pastor, and the venerable and beloved minister handed over to his friend the share assigned to him of these pastoral responsibilities. Few who were present will ever forget the deep humility and tenderness with which he spoke to the vast assembly.
When alas! it was known that Henry Allon had passed away from amongst us -- the extraordinary gathering around his loved remains that took place on April 21st, 1892, was a memorable testimony to the hold he had obtained on the affection of his church and deacons, and upon tens of thousands of his neighbours and of his fellow citizens. The north of London was hushed into temporary silence, and every expression of reverential affection was tendered as the solemn and yet triumphal car passed on its way. The Revs. W. H. Harwood, Principal Renolds, D.D., Dr. Stephenson, Dr. Oswald Dykes, J.G.Rogers, B.A., Prebendary Calthorp, Dr. Booth, and Brooke Lambert took part in the proceedings, and on the following Sunday, April 24th, Rev. R.W.Dale, D.D. preached from Heb. xiii. 17.
It should here be stated that in earlier days very frequent invitations to fill the most important positions among Congregational Churches were strenuously declined, and the mutual affection of pastor and church continued to grow. The testimony borne by his people to his sympathy in time of sorrow, and helpfulness in all kinds of crises, and fellowship in all their prosperity, is singularly unanimous and fervent. The veil cast over his large private charities, so lovingly and unostentatiously bestowed, cannot be lifted, but the fact of his generosity must not be passed over.
He has left to the affection and reverence of a great community the wife of his youth, his tenderly loved helpmate, the daughter of Joseph Goodman, Esq., of St. Ives. He also left four daughters and two sons, one son having died in infancy.
There was no parting scene, "no moaning at the bar" when on Easter Eve, April 16th, 1892, he was lost in the light of the Eternal Love. The one prayer which rose from every lip, on the marvellous and beautiful completeness of his life, was "Thy will be done," the only epitaph which every tongue seemed to murmur was, "Faithful unto Death," and the welcome that all but penetrated our ears was nothing short of this, "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
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(The Rejoice & Sing Enchiridion:edited by David Goodall; last amended 23/5/03)