William Alington (speaker)

William Alington (died 19 October 1446), lord of the manor of both Bottisham and Horseheath, Cambridgeshire, was Speaker of the House of Commons of England, Treasurer of The Exchequer, and High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire.

Biography

William Alington is said to have been the son of William Alington and Denise Malet. He married Joan (d.1446), said to have been the daughter of William Burgh and the widow of one Barnes.

Alington was appointed High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in 1414 and 1423. He was elected to Parliament in 1410, 1416 and 1429 as Knight of the Shire for Cambridgeshire and elected Speaker of the House in 1430. He was Privy Councillor to Henry IV and Henry V.

Family

Alington's two sons, William (d. 5 July 1459), of Horseheath, and Robert, of Bottisham, both married daughters of the famous Sir John Argentyne of Great Wymondley Manor, Hertfordshire, by his wife Margaret Calthorpe (1380–1427). By this marriage William Alington the younger acquired the manor of Wymondley, which was held in Grand Sergeanty by the service of presenting the first cup at the Coronation of Kings of England, which service was performed by the Lords of that Manor into the 20th century.

References

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Further reading

• See also the earlier publication: The Cambridgeshire Visitation by Henry St. George, 1619, (from MSS. Phillipps, No. 63, Edited by Sir T. Banks. Bart., and published by C. Gilmour, 1840), contains a large pedigree on page 2, of Alington, of Battersham, [sic] upon which can be seen this gentleman and his wife and their children).