The sitter was the son of William Alington, 1st Baron Alington of Killard and Elizabeth Tollemache. He married, as his first wife, Lady Catherine Stanhope, as his second wife, the Hon. Juliana Noel, and as his third wife, Lady Diana Russell, daughter of William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford. Alington inherited land at Horseheath, Cambridgeshire, on which he built a mansion designed by Roger Pratt, which was said to have cost £70,000. He was an Irish peer, MP for Cambridge, and Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire and a Constable of the Tower of London. He was a Colonel in the service of the Regiment of Foot.