Grant Allen, born Charles Grant Blairfindie Allen on February 24, 1848, in Alwington, Ontario, Canada, was a distinguished science writer, novelist, and a pioneering thinker in the evolution debate post-Darwin. Educated at home, and later at Merton College, Oxford, Allen excelled in academics, particularly in the sciences, which deeply influenced his literary craftsmanship (Clodd, 1900). With a ke...