Leslie Holdsworth Allen was born 21 June 1879 at Maryborough, Victoria, studied English and classics at the University of Sydney and completed a PhD. at the University of Leipzig in 1907. He held lecturing positions at the University of Sydney and Sydney Teacher's College before becoming Professor of English at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1918. From 1931 to 1951 he was sole lecturer in English and Latin at the Canberra University College, later the ANU. His poetry, which reflects his classical interests, was published in Phaedra and Other Poems (1921), Araby and Other Poems (1924) and Patria (1941). Allen also published a book of children's poetry, Billy-Bubbles (1920); a volume of prose sketches Gods and Wood-things (1913); and translations of three plays by the German dramatist Friedrich Hebbel. He died 5 Jan 1964.