Biography

Allen was found dead with the top of his head shot off and a shotgun on the ground in front of him. Mary Winifred Allen, wife of the deceased, said that on her application, her husband was placed on the prohibited drinkers' list. In conversation with her the next day he said that unless he could obtain beer, he would be an angel by the evening. She did not treat his remarks seriously and replied banteringIy to them, but shortly afterwards she was alarmed by the sound of a shot and, running into the yard, she found her husband with part of his head shot off and a shotgun lying nearby. She thought that it was quite likely that her husband intended merely to alarm her and arouse her anxiety and sympathy for him by firing the gun. Corroborative evidence was given by Allen's daughter, Elsie Irene Allen.

The verdict of the coronial enquiry was: "That deceased came by his death at Sandstone on April 4, by gun shot wound, but there was not sufficient evidence to say whether the wound was self-inflicted or caused accidentally." Robert is buried in the Presbyterian portion of the cemetery, plot number 19. The deceased's brother, Samuel William, died in Sandstone in 1944 and is also buried in the Sandstone cemetery.