Harry Allred was born on 4 July 1929. He was educated at Leigh Grammar School and left at 16, spending a year at Wigan Technical College having had a year out due to rheumatic fever. He met Brenda, through scouting and guiding, when they were 12 and 13 years old. They were married on 9 June 1954 and remained so for 56 years.

Harry's father was a 'plaster boy' at a dental practice and when he returned from service after WW1 he found that he had been added to the Dentists list. Harry studied dentistry at Manchester University and qualified in 1953. Following a house surgeon post and time in general practice, he became a teacher at the University of Manchester in 1956. In 1961 he moved to the London Hospital Medical College Dental School, becoming Professor of Conservative Dentistry (1969) and Dean of Dental Studies (1979), before retiring in 1994.

Throughout his academic career he had a strong belief that dentists should be involved in whole patient care, bringing to bear all their expertise for the benefit of the patient. Harry recognised the need to computerise various aspects of the working in the Dental School and was responsible, in collaboration with Fred Smales and Stuart Morganstein, for installing the very first networked computer system in any dental school in Europe and possibly the world.

Harry was the first Secretary of the BSRD and became President of the Association for Dental Education in Europe in 1986. He had positions with the University Grants Committee, the Joint Committee for Higher Training in Dentistry and WHO. He was the first Visiting Professor in Dentistry of the University of Otago in New Zealand.

One of his passions was the amateur operatic society, where Harry's beautiful tenor voice made many a public appearance. The Church played a large part in both Harry and Brenda's lives. In London All Hallows by the Tower became their spiritual home, where Harry became a church warden and Chair of the Wakefield Trust. Yet their diverse activities came to a halt when, in 2001, Harry had a stroke that changed his and Brenda's life for ever. It was Brenda's care and love that enabled Harry to enjoy the comforts of home for so long.

Harry died peacefully on 20 August 2012 and is survived by his daughter Dr Jo Allred.