ALLESTREE or ALLESTRY, RICHARD royalist divine and provost of Eton College, son of Robert Alles tree, and a descendant of an ancient Derbyshire family, was born at Uppington in Shropshire. He took an active part in the Civil War, and during the Commonwealth frequently carried despatches between Prince Charles and the English royalists. He was im prisoned for a brief period after one of these missions. At the Restoration he became canon of Christ Church, D.D. and city lecturer at Oxford, in 1663 chaplain to the king and regius pro fessor of divinity, and in 1665 provost of Eton College. He intro duced order into the disorganized finances of the college and pro cured the confirmation of Laud's decree, which reserved five of the Eton fellowships for members of King's College. His addi tions to the college buildings were less successful; for the "Upper School," constructed by him at his own expense, was falling into ruin almost in his lifetime, and was replaced by the present struc ture in 1689. Allestree died Jan. 28, 1681, and was buried in the chapel at Eton College, where there is a Latin inscription to his memory.
His writings include many controversial tracts. A share in the composition, if not the sole authorship, of the books published under the name of the author of the Whole Duty of Man, has been attributed to Allestree (Nichols's Anecdotes, ii. 603), and the tendency of modern criticism is to regard him as the author. His lectures, with which he was dissatisfied, were not published. Alles tree was a man of extensive learning, of moderate views and a fine preacher. He was generous and charitable, of "a solid and masculine kindness," and of a temper hot, but completely under control.
Athenae Oxonienses (ed. by Bliss) iii. /26o ; Wood, Fasti, 480, 514, ii. 57, 241, 37o; Richard Allestree, 4o sermon,s, with biographical preface by Dr. John Fell (1684) ; John Walker, Sufferings of the Clergy; R. Willis, Architectural History of Eton and Cambridge, i. 42o; Sir H. C. Maxwell-Lyte, Hist. of Eton College; Lionel Cust, Hist. of Eton College (1899) ; Egerton MSS., Brit. Mus. 2807 f. 197 b. For Allestree's authorship of the Whole Duty of Man, see Rev. F. Barham, Journal of Sacred Literature (July 1864) ; and C. E. Doble's articles in the Academy (Nov. 1884)•