Carrington was born in London and was educated at the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle and Imperial College London,[3] during which time he chaired the Imperial College Conservative Society and graduated with a BSc and ARCS in Physics in 1969. He then attended the London Business School, where he received an MBA.[4] He was a banker with the First National Bank of Chicago (now the First Chicago Bank) between 1974 and 1978, and then the Saudi International Bank between 1978 and 1987. He subsequently became chairman of the Outdoor Advertising Association[3] and chief executive of the Retail Motor Industry Federation.[5]
Carrington was married to Mary Lou, who died in 2008. Mary Lou held senior positions at the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange between 1985 and 1998, and was an assistant vice president of the First National Bank of Chicago, where Matthew Carrington had also worked. Mary Lou had also been elected a common councilman for the City of London ward of Lime Street.[12] They had one daughter together.