Matthew Hicks Allen was born in Kenansville (Duplin County), North Carolina on November 29, 1884. Allen was an attorney in Goldsboro and New Bern who served with the 133rd Field Artillery during World War I. Following the war, he served as a legislator and, in 1929, was charged by Governor O. Max Gardner to organize the state's Industrial Commission, for which entity he served as chairman. Allen died in Chapel Hill (Orange County) on November 14, 1954.