Alan Don | |
|---|---|
| Dean of Westminster | |
 Don in 1952 | |
| Church | Church of England |
| Diocese | Royal Peculiar |
| In office | 1946–1959 |
| Predecessor | Paul de Labilliere |
| Successor | Eric Abbott |
| Other post(s) | Chaplain to theSpeaker of the House of Commons (1936–1946) Chaplain andSecretary to theArchbishop of Canterbury (1931–1941) Provost ofSt Paul's Cathedral, Dundee (1921–1931) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1917 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 January 1885 |
| Died | 3 May 1966(1966-05-03) (aged 81) |
| Nationality | British (Scottish) |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Spouse | Muriel Gwenda McConnel |
| Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford |
Alan Campbell DonKCVO (3 January 1885 – 3 May 1966) was a trustee of theNational Portrait Gallery, editor of theScottish Episcopal Church's 1929Scottish Prayer Book,[1]chaplain andsecretary toCosmo Lang,Archbishop of Canterbury, from 1931 to 1941,Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons from 1936 to 1946 andDean of Westminster from 1946 to 1959.
Born into a manufacturingDundee family,[2] the son of Robert Bogle Don and Lucy Flora Campbell, he was educated atRugby andMagdalen College, Oxford. Deciding the family business was not for him,[3] studied for ordination atCuddesdon College before becoming acurate inRedcar followed by anincumbency inYorkshire.
There then followed a 10-year period asprovost of St. Paul's Scottish Episcopal (Anglican) Cathedral in his native city. In 1927 he commissioned Dundee architectPatrick Thoms to design his house.[4]
From 1931 until 1941 he was secretary toCosmo Gordon Lang and was on record as being scathingly critical of the Rev.Robert Anderson Jardine, of Darlington, who, against the rules of the Church of England, conducted the wedding of theDuke of Windsor andWallis Warfield in 1937. He became achaplain toKing George V.[5] Already theSpeaker's chaplain[6] in 1941 he became acanon ofWestminster Abbey asrector ofSt. Margaret's, Westminster, commonly called "the parish church of theHouse of Commons".[7] His brother was Air Vice MarshalFrancis Don.[8]
This was followed in 1946[9] by elevation to the post of Dean of Westminster,[10] a post he was to hold for 13 years, a period which includedthe Queen'sCoronation[11] One other event in his time as Dean was the theft of theStone of Scone just prior to the Coronation. As a Scot, Don felt this theft acutely and was important to the return of the Coronation Stone to Westminster.[12]
He retired toCanterbury where, although he was married,[a] he and his wife met only once a week for lunch.[13] He died on 3 May 1966.[14] Don’s diaries, covering the period 1931-1946 and edited by Robert Beaken, were published in 2020.[15]
|
| Deans |
|  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canons (current) |
| |||||
| Topics |
| |||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
