Douglas Allen, Baron Croham

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Douglas Albert Vivian Allen, Baron Croham GCB, FRSA (born 15 December 1917) is a British politician and civil servant.

The son of Albert John Allen, he was only one, when his father was killed in action during the First World War. Allen was educated at Wallington County Grammar School for Boys and at the London School of Economics (LSE), where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in statistics in 1938. During the Second World War, from 1940 to 1945, he served in the Royal Artillery.

Having entered the British Civil Service, Allen worked in the Board of Trade between 1939 and 1947, and in Her Majesty's Treasury between 1948 to 1958. In 1958, he became a Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Health, a post he held until 1960, when he changed to Her Majesty's Treasury again. Made a Third Secretary in 1962 and a Permanent Secretary in 1966, he worked for the Department of Economic Affairs from 1964 to 1968. Allen was Permanent Secretary of Her Majesty's Treasury from 1968 to 1974, and Permanent Secretary of the Civil Service Department and Head of Home Civil Service from 1974 to 1977.

Allen was chairman of British National Oil Corporation (BNOC) from 1982 to 1986, of Guinness Peat Group plc from 1982 to 1987, and of Trinity Insurance Ltd from 1987 to 1992. He was president of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) between 1978 to 1992, and of the British Institute of Energy Economics between 1986 to 1994. For the Anglo-German Foundation he was chairman from 1982 and 1998. Allen was governor of the London School of Economics between 1977 and 2004 and of the Wallington County Grammar School between 1993 and 2003. He is member of the First Division Association (FDA) and vice-president of the Anglo-German Association. He is also a member of the Institute of Directors and a companion of the Institute of Management.

Allen is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and was made a Honorary Doctor of Social Science (DSocSc) by the University of Southampton. In 1963, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the Bath (CB), in 1967 a Knight Commander (KCB) and in 1973, a Knight Grand Cross (GCB). On 8 February 1978, he was created a life peer as Baron Croham, of the London Borough of Croydon.

Lord Croham was married to Sybil Eileen Allegro from 1941 until 1994, when his wife died. They had two sons and a daughter.