Mr. Colin Hamilton Allan was born on the 23rd October 1921 Wellington, New Zealand. He married Betty Evans in 1955 and they have three sons. Educated at Canterbury University, New Zealand and Magdalene College Cambridge. Served with New Zealand troops during World War II. Mr. Allan joined colonial service as administrative cadet in British Solomon Islands; Land Commissioner in Solomon Islands, 1956-59. He was Assistant Resident Commissioner in the Anglo-French Condominium of the New Hebrides, 1959 and Resident Commissioner, 1966.
Appointed Governor of Seychelles in 1973 and served until Independence in 1976. He was knighted (KCMG) the following year, and was subsequently sent to the Pacific to oversee run-up to Independence of British Solomon Islands. In 1978 Governor Allan was elected visiting fellow at Australian National University. He died in 1993. Obituary in the Times described him as a secretive man who rarely delegates power, preferring to keep everything in his own hands. He wrote several books relating to his line in the Pacific.