Giles Alington
Encyclopedia
Sir Giles Alington, knight, Lord of the Manor
Lord of the Manor
The Lordship of a Manor is recognised today in England and Wales as a form of property and one of three elements of a manor that may exist separately or be combined and may be held in moieties...

 of Horseheath
Horseheath
Horseheath is a hamlet in Cambridgeshire, England, situated a few miles south-east of Cambridge, between Linton and Haverhill, on the A1307 road....

, Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...

, High Sheriff and MP for Cambridgeshire.

Family background

In the lead up to the Battle of Bosworth Field
Battle of Bosworth Field
The Battle of Bosworth Field was the penultimate battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the House of Lancaster and the House of York that raged across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 August 1485, the battle was won by the Lancastrians...

 in 1485 King Richard
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...

 appointed Sir William Alington of Horseheath, Knt., his Commissioner of Array for Cambridgeshire. He made his last will on 15 August and was killed fighting alongside John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk
John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk
John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was an English nobleman, soldier, and the first Howard Duke of Norfolk...

. His son and heir was Sir Giles Alington (1483–1522), a Knight of the Bath and twice High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, who had married Mary, daughter & heiress of Sir Richard Gardiner, Knt., (d.1489) Lord Mayor of London
Lord Mayor of London
The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...

 by his spouse Audria, daughter of William Cotton, Lord of Landwade Manor, Cambridgeshire. The Alingtons thrived under the Tudor and Stuart monarchs, and had the privilege of handing to the King his first drink at coronations.

Biography

Sir Giles Alington jnr., was the eldest son of eleven children. He was knighted by King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

 at Whitehall Palace, London, on 11 November 1530. He attended the King as Master of Ordnance
Master-General of the Ordnance
The Master-General of the Ordnance was a very senior British military position before 1855, when the Board of Ordnance was abolished.-Responsibilities:...

 at the siege of Boulogne-sur-Mer
Boulogne-sur-Mer
-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....

, noted on the inscription of a clock which he brought from that siege, and affixed over the offices at Horseheath Hall, in which was contained the alarm bell of the garrison of Boulogne.

He was appointed High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in the 22nd year of the reign of Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

 (1531) and again in the 37th year (1546) of the same monarch. He was returned to Parliament as knight of the shire (MP) for Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Cambridgeshire is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885. It was represented by two Knights...

 in 1529, 1539, 1554 and 1558 and also for Liverpool
Liverpool (UK Parliament constituency)
Liverpool was a Borough constituency in the county of Lancashire of the House of Commons for the Parliament of England to 1706 then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885. It was represented by two Members of Parliament...

 in 1553.

The Alingtons lived at Horseheath Hall for centuries. The house was rebuilt in 1663-5 by architect Sir Roger Pratt; (Vitruvius Britannicus is wrong in assigning the house to Webb). It was a neo-classical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

 eleven-bay house with a three-bay pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...

, quoins, hipped roof, balustrade and belvedere on the roof. It was further enlarged in 1688, but for reasons now unknown pulled down in 1777. The splendid wrought-iron gates went to St John's College
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....

 and Trinity College
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

 Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

, and the rectory
Rectory
A rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title...

 at Cheveley
Cheveley
The village of Cheveley is situated in the county of Cambridgeshire and lies about four miles east-south-east of the market town of Newmarket. Cheveley falls within the local government district of East Cambridgeshire. Geographically, Cheveley stands on the third highest point in Cambridgeshire at ...

.

Marriages

Sir Giles Alington was married three times and outlived his son and heir. "The [1st] marriage, between Ursula daughter of Sir Robert Drury of Hawstead in the County of Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

, knight, Privy Councillor" and "Sir Gyles Alington of Horseheath in the countie of Cambridge" is recorded on the tomb on their grandson, James Alington, in Milden parish church, Suffolk. By Ursula Drury (d.1523) Sir Giles had a son and heir, Sir Robert, Knt., (1520 - 1552), and a daughter who married John Spencer of Althorp
Althorp
Althorp is a country estate of about and a stately home in Northamptonshire, England. It is about north-west of the county town of Northampton. The late Diana, Princess of Wales is buried in the estate.-History:...

.

His second marriage was to Alice Middleton (d. before 1564), to whom he had a further five children, including Sir Richard Alington, later Master of the Rolls
Master of the Rolls
The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the second most senior judge in England and Wales, after the Lord Chief Justice. The Master of the Rolls is the presiding officer of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal...

, (a magnificent monument to Sir Richard is in the Rolls Chapel, Chancery Lane
Chancery Lane
Chancery Lane is the street which has been the western boundary of the City of London since 1994 having previously been divided between Westminster and Camden...

, London). He married [3] by license dated 1564, Margaret Talkorne (d.1586), who survived him. In his Will he mentions a worry:-"touching and concerninge the marriage betwene my foresaid nephew [sic; this should read grandson] Giles Alington and Margarett Ellington his Daughter which God is my witness I concluded and made with Sir John Spencer, rather for the goodwill and affection I bore unto him than for the profit....and could have had more by a thousand pounds...". Sir John Spencer was left his "best gowne of velvett furred with marteins" provided he ceased pressure for more than Sir Giles thought "kindlie and frindlie." Alice was the stepdaughter of Sir Thomas More.

There are several Alington memorials within Horseheath parish church including a tomb of Sir Giles (d.1586) who lies in splendour with one of his sons, one above the other, both in armour, heads on helmets and feet on hounds. There is in addition a brass to Sir Robert Alington, Knt., (d.22 May 1552) who predeceased his father. There is also another Giles Alington of Shakespeare's day on an impressive alabaster monument with his wife and their six children, he in slashed breeches and armour, she in a ruff and hooped skirt.

Family descendants

The arms of this family are: "Quarterly of six: 1, Sable, a bend engrailed argent between six billets of the second, ALINGTON; 2, Gules, on a bend argent three leopards' heads sable, BURGH; 3, Gules, three covered cups argent, ARGENTINE; 4, Azure, five marlets, two, two, and one or, a canton ermine; 5, Azure, sux marlets, three, two, and one or; 6, Sable, per fess and pale argent countercharged three griffins' heads erased of the first.
Crest: - A talbot passant proper.

One of Sir Giles Alington's direct descendants, William Alington, became Baron Alington of Killard in 1642. Burke's Armorie (London 1844) states: "ALINGTON, of Wymondley, co.Herts, and Horseheath, co.Cambridge, derived from Sir Hildebrand de Alington, Under Marshal to William the Conqueror at Hastings
Hastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....

, and raised to the peerage of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 in 1642, and to that of England in 1682; the last Lord Alington d.s.p. in 1722. Arms: Sa. a bend engr. between eight billets ar. Crest: A talbot pass. ppr."

Another notable descendant is the Very Reverend Cyril Argentine Alington (d. 1955), Chaplain to H.M. King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....

, Dean of Durham, and sometime Headmaster of Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

. His daughter, Elizabeth Hester Alington (1909-1990), married Sir Alexander or Alec Douglas-Home
Alec Douglas-Home
Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel, KT, PC , known as The Earl of Home from 1951 to 1963 and as Sir Alec Douglas-Home from 1963 to 1974, was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1963 to October 1964.He is the last...

 (1903-1995), 14th Earl of Home
Earl of Home
The title Earl of Home was created in 1605 in the Peerage of Scotland for Alexander Home of that Ilk, who was already the 6th Lord Home.The Earl of Home holds the subsidiary titles of Lord Home , and Lord Dunglass , in the Peerage of Scotland; and Baron Douglas, of Douglas in the County of Lanark ...

, Lord Home of the Hirsel, and sometime Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

.
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