Cyril Alington

The Very Reverend Cyril Alington
Dean of Durham
Alington in 1908 at the time of his appointment to Shrewsbury School
Church	Church of England
Diocese	Diocese of Durham
In office	1933 to 1951
Other posts	Headmaster of Shrewsbury School (1908–1916) Head Master of Eton College (1916–1933)
Orders
Ordination	1901
Personal details
Birth name	Cyril Argentine Alington
Born	(1872-10-22)22 October 1872
Died	16 May 1955(1955-05-16) (aged 82)
Buried	Durham Cathedral
Nationality	British
Denomination	Anglicanism

Cyril Argentine Alington (22 October 1872 – 16 May 1955) was an English educationalist, scholar, cleric, and prolific author. He was the headmaster of both Shrewsbury School and Eton College. He also served as chaplain to King George V and as Dean of Durham.

Dr Alington was the second son of the Rev. Henry Giles Alington, an inspector of schools, and his wife Jane Margaret Booth (d.1910), daughter of Rev. Thomas Willingham Booth. His father came from a long line of clerics, and was descended from the Alingtons of Horseheath, an ancient Cambridgeshire family. He was educated at Marlborough College and Trinity College, Oxford, and was elected a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford in 1896. He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1901.

Alington's educational career began when he became sixth-form master at Marlborough College in 1896. He moved to Eton College in 1899, leaving to become headmaster of Shrewsbury School in 1908. In 1917 he returned to Eton to succeed his brother-in-law, Edward Lyttelton, as headmaster and he remained there until his retirement from teaching in 1933. He served as chairman of the Headmasters' Conference, 1924–25. At Eton, a building which houses much of the English department is now named after him, as is Shrewsbury's school hall.

From 1933 to 1951 Alington served as Dean of Durham. He had become a Doctor of Divinity at Oxford in 1917 and received other honours: he was chaplain to the King from 1921 until 1933; he was made an honorary fellow of Trinity College, Oxford in 1926, and an honorary DCL at Durham University in 1937. He received the freedom of the City of Durham in 1949.