Frederick William Harforth Allison [also known as Frederick W. H. Allison] was born in Leeds, Yorkshire on 1 May 1898 and was the son of Frederick William Allison (1872-1942), a chemicals manufacturers clerk. It is not known where or with whom he trained as an architect. He qualified in the early 1920s and was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1922. He was also a Fellow of the West Yorkshire Society of Architects.
From the early 1920s until at least 1939, he taught in the Department of Architecture at the Leeds School of Art
In 1935 he collaborated with the the contractor Sir Edwin Airey and the engineer J. B. Lawson in a competition to design five-storey flats in reinforced concrete sponsored by the Cement Marketing Company Ltd.
Allison's address was given as 29 Mexborough Avenue, Chapeltown Road, Leeds, Yorkshire in 1911; 11 Lynton Gardens, Harrogate, Yorkshire in 1921 and 1922; 43, Ellers Road, Harehills, Leeds in 1923 and 1926; “Southlands,” Hetton Road, Oakwood, Leeds., Yorkshire in 1928 and 1936; and 95 Cookridge Lane, Horsforth, Leeds, Yorkshire in 1938 and 1939. His address at the time of his death was 10 St. Chad's Drive, Headingley, Leeds, Yorkshire
Working Class Domestic Flats in Reinforced Concrete. Report on competition for Designs for Five-Storey Flats London: The Cement Marketing Company Ltd., 1935 p. 61