Canadian financier, born on the 29th of September 1810, at Saltcoats, Ayrshire, Scotland, the son of Captain Alexander Allan, a shipmaster. He emigrated to Canada in 1826, and in 1831 entered the employ of the chief shipbuilding and grain-shipping firm of Montréal, of which he became a junior partner in 1835. In 1853 he organized the Allan Line of steamships, plying between Montréal, Liverpool and Glasgow; till his death he was closely associated with the commercial growth and prosperity of Canada, and in 1871 was knighted in recognition of his services. In 1872–1873 he obtained from the Canadian government a charter for building the Canadian Pacific railway, but the disclosure made with reference to his contributions to the funds of the Conservative party led to the Pacific scandal, and that company was soon afterwards dissolved. He died in Edinburgh on the 9th of December 1882.
See J. C. Dent, Canadian Portrait Gallery (1881).
