Most decorated · 19 medals and honours, 2 for gallantry
Colonel Stephen Allen
Sir Stephen Allen was a Morrinsville lawyer and farmer who commanded the 2nd Battalion, Auckland Infantry Regiment, on the Western Front from January 1917 and won the DSO and a bar for it. He was later made CMG and, as Administrator of Western Samoa, a KBE, and served again in the Second World War as military secretary to 2NZEF. His 19 items include a pile of campaign and Territorial service medals as well as two gallantry awards.
19medals and honours
2of them for gallantry
His medals and honours
Won for gallantry
Gallantry award
Distinguished Service Order (DSO)
1 Jan 1918 (New Year Honours) · France and Flanders · Lieutenant-Colonel, 2nd Battalion, Auckland Infantry Regiment
Gazetted: London Gazette 1 Jan 1918
The gazetted wording was the general one used in honours lists, 'for distinguished service in the field', so no specific act is recorded. By the time of the award Allen had commanded the 2nd Auckland Battalion since 15 January 1917 and led it through the Western Front operations of 1917, being slightly wounded three times and then more seriously on 4 October 1917, when a shell burst broke his leg. The award recognised his sustained leadership of the battalion over that year.
Citation text is the generic form; actual act not identified. New Year Honours lists were printed in NZ papers on 2 January 1918.
Counted in his gallantry totalSource: Online Cenotaph record C36197, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36197; Te Ara DNZB, 'Allen, Stephen Shepherd' (McGibbon), https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4a9/allen-stephen-shepherd
Bar: a second award
Bar to the DSO
June 1918 · France (battalion attack; place not named) · Lieutenant-Colonel, 2nd Battalion, Auckland Infantry Regiment
Gazetted: London Gazette 22 June 1918 (citation); NZ papers listed the bar by 3 June 1918, so the award was probably announced in the King's Birthday Honours, with the citation following
According to the citation recorded by the Cenotaph, Allen organised the assembly of his battalion for an attack from a difficult position. When part of one company was held up during the advance, he went to the spot himself and by skilful leadership got the advance moving again. The citation credits the success of the operation largely to his courageous example under heavy machine-gun fire. It does not name the date or place. Te Ara says he rejoined his battalion in February 1918, still lame from his broken leg, so the action may have taken place in the Serre sector in 1918 (Wikipedia links his battalion with the capture of La Signy Farm), but that link is not confirmed.
Gazette date: Cenotaph says 22 June 1918 (the Gazette itself not read); Papers Past shows 'Bar to DSO' in a NZ list on 3 June 1918. Date and place of the act unknown.
Counted in his gallantry totalSource: Online Cenotaph record C36197, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36197; Papers Past, North Otago Times 3 June 1918 'Military Honours', https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NOT19180603.2.38
Every other medal and honour (18)
1914-1915 Star1915 (service); issued after the war · GallipoliQualified by serving at Gallipoli from September 1915 after embarking with the 6th Reinforcements.British War Medal 1914-19201915-1919 (service) · Gallipoli, FranceAwarded for WW1 overseas service with the NZEF.Victory Medal1915-1919 (service) · Gallipoli, FranceAwarded for WW1 service in a theatre of war; Cenotaph does not record an oak-leaf emblem separately.Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG)3 Jun 1919 (King's Birthday Honours) · Western FrontMade a Companion of the order in the 1919 King's Birthday Honours for his war services as a battalion commander. Wikipedia says the award was for bravery at Passchendaele, but that is hard to reconcile with Te Ara,…Volunteer Officers' Decoration (VD)date not known (after 1911 commission) · New ZealandLong service as a Territorial Force officer, commissioned in 1911 and still commanding a brigade in 1937. Wikipedia carries the post-nominal VD.Colonial Auxiliary Forces Decoration (duplicate of VD)Not counted: reconciled with the VD above.Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medaldate not known · New ZealandCenotaph lists this long-service medal; qualifying service not described.New Zealand Territorial Service Medaldate not known · New ZealandCenotaph lists this Territorial service medal; qualifying service not described.New Zealand Long and Efficient Service Medaldate not known · New ZealandCenotaph lists this long and efficient service medal; qualifying service not described.Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE)3 Jun 1933 (King's Birthday Honours) · Western Samoa and New ZealandKnighted two years after leaving Western Samoa, where he had been Administrator from May 1928 to April 1931. His term was dominated by the Mau independence movement, including the 28 December 1929 affray in Apia in…King George V Silver Jubilee Medal 19351935 · New ZealandIssued in 1935 to selected recipients to mark the King's Silver Jubilee.King George VI Coronation Medal 19371937 · New ZealandIssued in 1937 for the Coronation of King George VI.1939-1945 Star1939-1941 (service) · Britain, Middle EastQualified by WW2 service from 1939, including his time as 2NZEF military secretary in the Middle East.Africa Star1941 (service) · Egypt, Greece and Crete campaignsQualified by service in the Middle East theatre in 1940-41.Defence Medal1939-1942 (service) · BritainQualifying home-service in Britain, including his staff post on Salisbury Plain and work at the Ministry of Home Security in Birmingham.War Medal 1939-19451939-1945 (service)Awarded for full-time service in WW2.New Zealand War Service MedalWW2 (service)New Zealand's own medal for WW2 service.Mentioned in Despatches28 Dec 1917 (first listed); later 1918 and 1919; one WW2 mention c. 1941 · Western Front; Greece and Crete (WW2)Four mentions for his WW1 command of the 2nd Auckland Battalion and one in the Second World War after the Greece and Crete campaigns of 1941, when he was 2NZEF military secretary. Counted as ONE item for the emblem.
His story
Territorial officer
Commissioned in the Territorial Force's 6th (Hauraki) Regiment in 1911 and a major commanding C Company by 1914; he persuaded the local dentist Bernard Freyberg to join as a subaltern.
Source: Te Ara DNZB, 'Allen, Stephen Shepherd' (McGibbon), https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4a9/allen-stephen-shepherd
Joins the NZEF
Enlisted in March 1915, embarked on 14 August 1915 as a major with the 6th Reinforcements and joined the Auckland Battalion at Gallipoli in September.
Source: Te Ara DNZB, 'Allen, Stephen Shepherd' (McGibbon), https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4a9/allen-stephen-shepherd; Online Cenotaph record C36197, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36197
To France
After the evacuation he became second in command of the 2nd Battalion, Auckland Infantry Regiment, and went with it to France.
Source: Te Ara DNZB, 'Allen, Stephen Shepherd' (McGibbon), https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4a9/allen-stephen-shepherd
Commands the battalion
Took over the 2nd Auckland Battalion as a lieutenant colonel and led it through 1917; slightly wounded three times.
Source: Te Ara DNZB, 'Allen, Stephen Shepherd' (McGibbon), https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4a9/allen-stephen-shepherd
Leg broken by a shell
A shell explosion broke his leg; he was hospitalised in England and rejoined the battalion in February 1918, still lame.
Source: Te Ara DNZB, 'Allen, Stephen Shepherd' (McGibbon), https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4a9/allen-stephen-shepherd
DSO and bar
DSO in the New Year Honours of 1 January 1918 and a bar to it in June 1918 for leadership in an attack under machine-gun fire.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C36197, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36197; Papers Past, North Otago Times 3 June 1918 'Military Honours', https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NOT19180603.2.38
CMG and return home
CMG in the King's Birthday Honours of 3 June 1919; repatriated to New Zealand in June 1919. Published an account of his battalion's service in 1920.
Source: Wikipedia, 'Stephen Allen (colonial administrator)', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Allen_(colonial_administrator); Te Ara DNZB, 'Allen, Stephen Shepherd' (McGibbon), https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4a9/allen-stephen-shepherd
Territorial brigade commander, Samoa
Commanded 1st NZ Infantry Brigade 1920-25 and 1933-37 as colonel, was mayor of Morrinsville in 1927-28 and Administrator of Western Samoa from May 1928 to April 1931; KBE in June 1933.
Source: Te Ara DNZB, 'Allen, Stephen Shepherd' (McGibbon), https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4a9/allen-stephen-shepherd; Wikipedia, 'Stephen Allen (colonial administrator)', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Allen_(colonial_administrator)
Second World War
In Britain when war broke out; staff captain on Salisbury Plain, then military secretary of 2NZEF from March 1940, served in Greece and Crete and was mentioned in despatches; discharged in the UK in October 1941 and later served in the Ministry of Home Security.
Source: Te Ara DNZB, 'Allen, Stephen Shepherd' (McGibbon), https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4a9/allen-stephen-shepherd
Rank and insignia
The ranks he held, and the badge a soldier of that rank wore. These are simplified illustrations.
Lieutenant1911 (commissioned; exact rank not given) · Territorial ForceShoulder strap: two pipsMajorby 1914; embarked August 1915Shoulder strap: crownLieutenant-Colonelfrom 15 January 1917 · acting/battalion commandShoulder strap: crown and one pipColonel21 July 1919 per Cenotaph (biography says 1920)Shoulder strap: crown and two pipsColonelWW2: HQ 2NZEF, military secretary 1940-41Shoulder strap: crown and two pips
His ships
HMNZT 27 (Willochra) or HMNZT 28 (Tofua)Troopship, 14 August 1915Cenotaph is not sure which of the two he sailed on.
Afterwards
Allen resumed his law practice at Morrinsville, named his farm La Signy after the French position his battalion had taken, and stood unsuccessfully for Parliament in 1922. He commanded the 1st NZ Infantry Brigade in the Territorial Force, was mayor of Morrinsville and then Administrator of Western Samoa (1928-31), where he took a firm line against the Mau movement; the affray of December 1929 left at least eight Samoans, including Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III, and a policeman dead.
He chaired the Transport Co-ordination Board in 1934-36, served again in WW2, was Grand Master of the NZ Freemasons in 1948-49 and wrote Early Morrinsville (1959). His only surviving son, a Royal Navy submarine officer, was lost in April 1942. Allen died in a road crash near Maramarua on 4 November 1964.
Later awards, not counted here: 1939-1945 Star; Africa Star; Defence Medal; War Medal 1939-1945; New Zealand War Service Medal; Mentioned in Despatches (one, WW2).
This is the Service Record sign as we would make it from his record: his rank, name, regiment, number and date of embarkation. The medals on the sign are worked out automatically, so the medals listed above are the ones to rely on.
The Service Record
Photograph
We haven’t hosted a photograph here
Rather than copy someone else’s image onto our own site, we’d rather send you to see it where it’s properly held: his full record at the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Online Cenotaph.
NO Boer War service found in any source (Cenotaph, Te Ara, Wikipedia); he was at Cambridge 1901-05 and no Queen's South Africa medal is listed. The brief's mention of the Boer War is not supported.
Served in WW1: confirmed (NZEF 12/2600; Auckland Battalion at Gallipoli from Sept 1915; commanded 2nd Auckland Bn in France from 15 Jan 1917; DSO and bar). Born in England but raised in New Zealand from 1892; Cenotaph says 'transferred from British Army' in 1915 while Te Ara says his pre-war commission was in the NZ Territorial Force: treat as a New Zealander but note the conflict.
Cenotaph's 'Volunteer Officer's Decoration (VD)' and 'Colonial Auxiliary Forces Decoration' reconciled as one award (counted once). Total 20 Cenotaph-implied items reduced to 19.
Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medal, NZ Territorial Service Medal and NZ Long and Efficient Service Medal are only on the Cenotaph; they may overlap and would be unusual for an officer who holds the VD. If all three are excluded the total is 16; if they are collapsed to one, 17.
Coronation Medal 1937 is only on the Cenotaph; Silver Jubilee Medal is supported by Wikipedia (Evening Post 6 May 1935).
DSO bar gazette date: Cenotaph says 22 June 1918; Papers Past lists the bar by 3 June 1918, so the Gazette itself should be checked. Place and date of the act not given.
CMG: Wikipedia says awarded for Passchendaele bravery, but Te Ara has him wounded on 4 Oct 1917, before the 12 Oct attack.
Four WW1 mentions per Te Ara and Cenotaph; Cenotaph gives only three Gazette references, and the WW2 mention gazette was not found. Counted as one emblem.
Wounds: Te Ara says three slight wounds and a broken leg (4 Oct 1917); Cenotaph says wounded four times, consistent.
Highest rank: Colonel (Territorial/2NZEF); some sources style him 'Brigadier' in connection with brigade command but none states that substantive rank.
