 His father came from a long line of clerics, a branch of the landed gentry Alington family of Little Barford Manor House, St Neots, Huntingdonshire, and was descended from the Alingtons of Horseheath, an ancient Cambridgeshire family, from which also descended the Barons Alington.While studying at Oxford, Alington made two appearances in first-class cricket for Oxford University in 1859 against the Marylebone Cricket Club and in The University Match against Cambridge University, scoring 12 runs.He was later an Anglican priest and an Inspector of Schools.