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Alan Don

The Very Reverend

Alan Don

KCVO
Dean of Westminster
ChurchChurch of England
DioceseRoyal Peculiar
In office1946–1959
PredecessorPaul de Labilliere
SuccessorEric Abbott
Other post(s)Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons (1936–1946)
Chaplain and Secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury (1931–1941)
Provost of St Paul's Cathedral, Dundee (1921–1931)
Orders
Ordination1917
Personal details
Born3 January 1885
Dundee, UK
Died3 May 1966(1966-05-03) (aged 81)
NationalityBritish (Scottish)
DenominationAnglican
SpouseMuriel Gwenda McConnel
Alma materMagdalen College, Oxford

Alan Campbell Don KCVO (3 January 1885 – 3 May 1966) was a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, editor of the Scottish Episcopal Church's 1929 Scottish Prayer Book,[1] chaplain and secretary to Cosmo Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury, from 1931 to 1941, Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons from 1936 to 1946 and Dean of Westminster from 1946 to 1959.

Early life and ordained ministry

Born into a manufacturing Dundee family,[2] the son of Robert Bogle Don and Lucy Flora Campbell, he was educated at Rugby and Magdalen College, Oxford. Deciding the family business was not for him,[3] studied for ordination at Cuddesdon College before becoming a curate in Redcar followed by an incumbency in Yorkshire.

There then followed a 10-year period as provost of St. Paul's Scottish Episcopal (Anglican) Cathedral in his native city. In 1927 he commissioned Dundee architect Patrick Thoms to design his house.[4]

From 1931 until 1941 he was secretary to Cosmo 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 the Duke of Windsor and Wallis Warfield in 1937. He became a chaplain to King George V.[5] Already the Speaker's chaplain[6] in 1941 he became a canon of Westminster Abbey as rector of St. Margaret's, Westminster, commonly called "the parish church of the House of Commons".[7] His brother was Air Vice Marshal Francis Don.[8]

Dean of Westminster

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 included the Queen's Coronation[11] One other event in his time as Dean was the theft of the Stone 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]

Retirement

He retired to Canterbury 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]

Arms

Coat of arms of Alan Don
Motto
Non Deerit Alter Avres [16]

Notes

  1. ^ To Muriel née McConnell, from 1914 until her death in 1963[3]

References

  1. ^ Don, Alan Campbell (1949). The Scottish Book of Common Prayer, 1929. Notes on Its Origin and Growth, with Illustrations from Original Documents. London: SPCK.
  2. ^ "Dr. Alan Don Former Dean Of Westminster". The Times. No. 56622. 4 May 1966. p. 14F.
  3. ^ a b Who was who: A Cumulated Index, 1897–1990. A & C Black. 1991. ISBN 978-0-7136-3457-0.
  4. ^ "Basic Biographical Details: Patrick Hill Thoms". Dictionary of Scottish Architects. 2006. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  5. ^ "Chaplain to the King-new appointments". The Times. No. 46896. 27 October 1934. p. 15E.
  6. ^ "Speaker's Chaplain". The Times. No. 47304. 21 February 1936. p. 14G.
  7. ^ "St Margaret's Church". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  8. ^ "Alan Campbell Don". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  9. ^ "The Deanery Of Westminster Canon A. C. Don Appointed". The Times. No. 50453. 16 May 1946. p. 4F.
  10. ^ Westminster Abbey. Order of service for the installation of the Reverend Alan Campbell Don, D.D., as dean of the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter, on Thursday, June 6th, 1946. Lambeth Palace Library Catalogue number G199 37.04
  11. ^ "The Coronation 1953". The Times. No. 52636. 1 June 1953. p. 15A.
  12. ^ Shepherd, Robert (2012). Westminster: A Biography: From Earliest Times to the Present. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 331. ISBN 978-1-4411-2386-2.
  13. ^ Vickers, Hugo (2006). Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Arrow. ISBN 978-0-09-947662-7.
  14. ^ Westminster Abbey. Alan Campbell Don KCVO DD, dean of Westminster 1946–1959. Wednesday, 1 June 1966, 12 noon. Lambeth Palace Library Catalogue Number H5199.D6C4
  15. ^ Don, Alan (2020). Robert Beaken (ed.). Faithful Witness: The confidential diaries of Alan Don, Chaplain to the King, the Archbishop and the Speaker, 1931-1946. London: SPCK. ISBN 978-0-281-08398-5.
  16. ^ "Goldsmiths Hall, 61 Don AC". Baz Manning. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
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