Geoff Alley

Geoffrey Thomas Alley (4 February 1903 – 25 September 1986) was a New Zealand rugby union player and librarian. He played three test matches for the All Blacks and was New Zealand's first national librarian.

Early life and family Born in Amberley, North Canterbury, in 1903, Alley was the fifth child of Clara Maria Alley (née Buckingham) and her husband Frederick James Alley. His siblings included Rewi Alley, the activist and educator who went to China, and Gwen Somerset, a noted educator. He was educated at Christchurch Boys' High School, and left in 1921 to manage a farm near Lumsden owned by his father. In 1926, Alley began studying at Canterbury University College, from where he graduated with a Master of Arts with first-class honours in 1932. His thesis was entitled Experiment in rural adult education. He was also awarded a Diploma of Social Sciences in 1930.

Alley married Euphan Margaret Jamieson in 1930; they had two sons and two daughters.

Alley wrote a book on the 1930 tour of New Zealand by the British Lions, He was elected a Fellow of the New Zealand Library Association in 1955,

Later life and death Following his retirement, Alley lived on a two-acre farm in Upper Hutt that he purchased in 1946. From 1968 to 1971, he was visiting professor at the University of Western Ontario School of Library and Information Science. He died at his farm in 1986.