Giles Alington, Lord of Horseheath - Family Descendants

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, and raised to the peerage of Ireland 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, Dean of Durham, and sometime Headmaster of Eton College. His daughter, Elizabeth Hester Alington (1909–1990), married Sir Alexander or Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995), 14th Earl of Home, Lord Home of the Hirsel, and sometime Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.