Allen Upward (1863–1926) was a British poet, lawyer, politician, and teacher. Born in Worcester, he was raised in the Plymouth Brethren faith. He trained as a lawyer at the Royal University of Dublin and became a fervent advocate for Irish Home Rule, penning a supportive pamphlet during his time in Dublin.

 

Upward served as a judge for the British Foreign Office in Kenya and, upon returning to Britain, defended prominent trade union leaders such as Havelock Wilson. In the 1890s, he ran for Parliament as a Lib-Lab candidate.

 

His literary contributions spanned poetry, novels, translations, and autobiographical works. In 1908, he self-published 'The New Word', notable for its early use of the term ‘Scientology’. His work gained recognition in the Imagist anthology 'Des Imagistes', edited by Ezra Pound in 1914.

Upward faced rejection when the British Museum refused his manuscripts, leading him to burn them in 1917. He died by suicide in November 1926 in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, reportedly believing himself to be a literary failure, despite the recent success of his novel 'The Domino Club' in America.