Col. Vanderbilt Allen (1840-1898) was a member of The Lambs who served on Council from 1883-1885. The year he was elected to The Lambs is unclear, but it would have been between 1877-1882.
Allen was born and raised on Staten Island. He was a grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt; his mother was Ethelinda Vanderbilt. His father was Daniel B. Allen.
Allen was a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, class of 1864. He was commissioned a lieutenant and like almost his entire class, served in the Civil War, first in the Army Corps of Engineers. He spent a year on the staff of General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan as Assistant Engineer, then saw action in the Shenandoah campaign and at Appomattox, where he was present at the surrender of Robert E. Lee. He resigned from the Army in 1865, having risen to the rank of Brevet Major. From 1870 to 1872, Allen served as Colonel of Engineers in the Egyptian Army. He returned to New York and became a partner in a brokerage house. He invested in the manufacturer of water purifiers.
Allen was married at least three times: to Helena Brooks Mount, Edith Desilver, and Mary Edith Mott. His son, Vanderbilt Allen, Jr., was a struggling artist.
Allen was residing in Capri, Italy, when he died suddenly of cirrhosis of the liver on March 6, 1898. He was 57. He is interred in the Protestant Cemetery in Capri, Città Metropolitana di Napoli, Campania, Italy.