2 JUNE 1933, Page 6

When Dean Alington was made Headmaster of Eton, the Governing

Body deserted all precedents by appointing a man who, for all his close connexions with the School, had not been an Eton boy. In appointing as his suc- cessor Mr. C. A. Elliot, son to that brilliant public servant, Sir Charles, they have gone back to tradition in that one respect, for he was a King's Scholar thirty years ago; but they . have broken away in others. He has been a Cambridge don, a Trinity man,- induced to take a Fellowship at Jesus, where he was so well looked- upon that he soon became Tutor. But he. has yet to prove that he has the power to teach or order the lives of .school-boys. However, if he is still an Eton boy with the liberal tradition of the place in his heart, there is every reason to hope that he and the school will prosper. The subject in which he has excelled is history ; so he will not take the Head's Division in Classics according to custom. For the first time in history the Provost and Headmaster will be laymen.