The Biographical Dictionary of America/Allen, Horace Newton

ALLEN, Horace Newton, diplomat, was born at Delaware, Ohio, April 23, 1858. He was graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan university, in 1881; studied in the Ohio medical college, and received the degree M.D. from the Cincinnati medical college in 1884. He was appointed medical missionary to China under the auspices of the Presbyterian church in 1883; was transferred to Korea in 1884; saved the life of a prince in a revolution; was appointed medical officer to the court, and as a recognition of his services during the rebellion in 1885, was provided with a hospital by the king. He was secretary and interpreter to the Korean embassy to the United States, at Washington, in 1887, returning to Korea as U. S. secretary of the legation in 1890. He was Korean commissioner to the World's Columbian exposition, Chicago, in 1893, and was appointed U.S. minister to Korea in 1897.