Allston, Robert (Francis Withers) (1801-1864)

US farmer and governor. An innovative farmer, he improved cultivation methods and developed better varieties of seed, samples of which won medals at the 1855 Paris Exposition. In 1843 he published Memoir on Rice. As Governor of South Carolina, he emphasized the importance of local taxation to supplement the support of schools.

Allston spent a year on the Geodetic Coastal Survey when family matters called him home to South Carolina to oversee the rice plantation. In addition to farming, he was South Carolina's surveyor general, 1823-27, a state representative, 1828-30, and a state senator, 1832-56. He was elected governor in 1856.