Naval
Memorials in
A Guide by Anthony Gary Brown
© 18th August 2004 (with revisions: 08/25/04.)
Introduction
Westminster Abbey is
one of my favorite places to visit in
Although there are
thought to be about 3,000 individuals buried in the Abbey - with several
hundred more buried in the adjacent St Margaret’s Church and in the grave-yard
sites associated with the two buildings – less than a third of these have any
visible marker. Moreover, many of the
visible memorials mark the life and passing of distinguished (or sometimes
merely well-connected) individuals who are in fact buried elsewhere. This is especially true of those naval and
military characters who died on overseas service and whose bodies never made it
home to the
[Note: This Anthony G Brown Fine Nautical Books web-site will be extended
to cover the 50 or so naval memorials in
In each entry below, links are given to a variety of useful web-sites, led by those of the National Maritime Museum, Find-A-Grave, the very useful on-line encyclopedia Wikipedia, the sites of Westminster Abbey, St. Margaret’s Church, and St. Paul’s Cathedral, as well as a small selection of private sites giving useful information on particular individuals, ships or events. The Abbey, Church and Cathedral sites have useful general maps of their premises, so that those unfamiliar with, say “the North Choir Aisle” as a memorial location can more easily plan their visit. Where the individual has an entry in the Dictionary of National Biography, I have added the reference ‘DNB’, though there is at present no free online access to those mighty volumes; DNB in print nevertheless remains, a century and more after it was published, the indispensable first port-of-call for biographical researchers. Also very useful for naval scholars, though again only available in print, are Peter Kemp’s The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea and Sir William Laird Clowes’ 7-volume, early 20th century masterpiece, The Royal Navy.
Finally, names
preceded by *
in the text ( e.g., “… his daughter married
Westminster
Abbey and St Margaret’s Church
ALBEMARLE see MONCK
BAKER, Vice Admiral John, 1661-1716
Memorial on North Aisle Wall, just
west of Sacristy doorway.
DNB
Baker was a distinguished fleet
officer who served much of his career in the Mediterranean commands under *Shovell, Byng, Norris and
BALCHEN,
Admiral Sir John, 1670-1744 & Commander George, d. 1745
Wall tablet in West Aisle of North Transept, to the right of the HMS *Captain window.
DNB
John Balchen
enjoyed an active and successful career, fighting in a number of important
fleet actions early in his career and then rising to substantial commands in the
Mediterranean and the Channel. He later
became Governor of Greenwich Hospital, but was restored to the active list for
a final service off the Portuguese coast.
On his return from this mission his HMS Victory was lost in a storm off the Channel Islands, with all 1100
hands. His son George died of illness
the following year in the
BARHAM, HMS (sunk off
Case at western end of North Aisle
of Nave
The case contains an Honour Roll of all the 865 crew – some two thirds of her
full complement - lost when the battleship HMS Barham was torpedoed by a German
U-Boat off the coast of
BAYNE, Captain William,
1729?-1782 (with W. *Blair and R. *Manners)
Monument in central aisle of North
Transept, opposite HMS *Captain
window
DNB
Bayne had a long fighting career
in frigates and ships of the line before being killed in his HMS Alfred by a long-range cannon shot
during an inconclusive fleet skirmish three days before Lord Rodney’s defeat of
the French at the Battle of the Saintes, the final
battle of the American Revolutionary War.
Bayne was buried at sea.
BEAUCLERK,
Captain Lord Aubrey, 1710?-1741
Monument in west aisle of North
Transept under HMS *Captain window.
DNB
Beauclerk, a son of the Duke of St Albans (whose own parents were
King Charles II and his mistress Nell Gwynne), was killed by cannon fire aboard
his HMS Prince Frederick during
Admiral Vernon’s assault on Cartagena (in modern
Colombia).
BEHN, Mrs Aphra, 1640-1689
Floor slab in East Walk of
Cloisters
DNB
Mrs Behn is of course a famous
playwright; but she was also a British
spy active against the Dutch on behalf of King Charles II, who had befriended
her. In 1666, now a widow, she obtained
- supposedly from numerous lovers - details of the Dutch plan to attack British
shipping in the Thames and Medway.
Returning to
Buried in North
Ambulatory, but memorial not visible.
DNB
Floor slab in Chapel of St John
the Baptist
Berkley was the commander of James, Duke of York’s
flagship HMS Royal Charles at the
Battle of Lowestoft, where he was killed along with
several of his officers (including *Muskerry) by a
single Dutch chain-shot, Falmouth’s decapitated head
is said to have knocked the future King James II off his feet. The Earl is actually interred in the Chapel.
BLACKWOOD, Vice Admiral Sir
Henry, 1770-1832
Tablet in west aisle of North transept
DNB
The Irishman Sir Harry Blackwood
was one of the most dashing of Lord Nelson’s “band of brothers”, making his
early reputation as a bold frigate commander and later taking charge of the
frigate squadron at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
BLAIR, Captain William,
1741-1782 (with W. *Bayne and R.
*Manners)
Monument in west central aisle of
North Transept, opposite HMS *Captain
window
DNB
Blair was commander of HMS Anson at Rodney’s defeat of the French
fleet at the Battle of the Saintes, the final battle
of the American Revolutionary War. He
was killed by cannon fire during the latter stages of the engagement and was
buried at sea.
BLAKE, Admiral Robert, 1599-1657
Monument in South Choir
Aisle; also Stained Glass Window at
eastern end of North Aisle of St Margaret’s Church.
DNB
Blake was one of the very greatest
British admirals, much admired a hundred or so years later by Lord *Nelson for
his introduction of formal tactical organization into the navy. He had studied at Oxford University but had
been cast into near-poverty by the death of his father and then made a career
at sea in the merchant service. He
appears to have been a republican from his early days and joined the
Parliamentary army at the beginning of the civil war, soon distinguishing
himself. In 1649 he moved to a sea
command and showed himself an active and successful officer, soon rising to
fleet authority. In 1657 he took a
Spanish treasure fleet off Tenerife, but was wounded in the action. General ill-health and these wounds sent him
home to England in his HMS George,
but he died whilst the ship entering Plymouth Sound. Although he was buried in the Abbey (in the
Henry VII Chapel) with honours, like other
Parliamentarians he was disinterred on the restoration of Charles II and either
re-buried in St Margaret’s graveyard or tossed into the Thames: the existing Abbey monuments to him are of
more recent origin.
BRUNEL,
Isambard Kingdom, 1806-1859
Stained glass window in South
Aisle of Nave
DNB
Brunel was one of the great engineers of the early industrial
revolution. Famous especially for his
railway construction, Brunel also designed and built
three of the most formidable commercial iron steam-ships of his age, the Great Western, the Great Britain and the Great
Eastern. He also designed many
docks, piers and even floating gun-platforms.
BUCKINGHAM see VILLIERS
BURGOYNE, Captain Hugh, 1833-1870
(with C. Coles and crew of HMS Captain; also a memorial in St Paul’s)
Brass plaque and stained glass
window in North Transept
DNB
see CAPTAIN, HMS
CAPTAIN, HMS (lost with all hands
in 1870; also a memorial in St Paul’s)
Brass plaque and stained glass
window in North Transept
HMS Captain was a controversial experimental ship, with a very low
freeboard and, consequently, a wicked vulnerability when heeled by an excess of
sail in a stiff wind. On her run-up
cruise she duly capsized in the Bay of Biscay – in what conventional
sea-officers described as rather unexceptional wind conditions - with the loss
of almost all her 500 hands. Her
commander Hugh Burgoyne, an experienced officer who had been awarded the
Victoria Cross in the Crimea, was one of the very few men somehow to clamber
onto the upturned hull – but he then refused to jump to the safety of the
ship’s launch and went down atop his ship.
Cowper Coles was the half-pay navy officer who had designed and promoted
the Captain (and a number of similar
vessels) to facilitate the rotating gun turrets he had introduced into naval
gunnery. He was aboard the ship as a
passenger and observer and was one of those many lost.
CHICHESTER, Sir Francis, 1901-1972
Part of “Navigators Memorial”,
wall plaque in South Cloister, honoring *Drake, *Cook and
DNB
Chichester was a private ocean yachtsman (as well as pioneering
aviator) who specialized in high-speed, long-distance solo voyages in his
series of Gipsy Moth sloops and
ketches. After completing a rapid,
single-handed circumnavigation in 1966, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
with the same sword that Queen Elizabeth I had used to honour
Sir Francis *Drake in 1581.
CHURCHILL, Admiral George,
1654-1710
Monument in South Choir Aisle,
towards Nave
DNB
George Churchill was a younger
brother of the famous general, the Duke of Marlborough, and seems to have risen
to the highest naval ranks and administrative offices by trading on his
brother’s name and fame. A more roundly
disliked and derided officer it would be difficult to conceive, whatever his
memorial may say. He is buried near his
memorial.
CHURCHILL, Sir Winston Spenser,
1874-1965
Floor slab at west end of Nave
Amongst his many other claims to
fame, Churchill – whose military experience was in the army - was First Lord of
the Admiralty (in effect, Minister for the Navy) at the outbreak of both World
War I and World War II. In 1908
Churchill married Clementine Hozier, a granddaughter
of the Earl of Airlie, in the adjacent St Margaret’s
Church. Churchill and his wife are both
buried at Bladon, in Oxfordshire,
near the estates of the Duke of Marlborough, into whose family Churchill was
born.
COCHRANE, Admiral Thomas, Earl of
Dundonald, 1775-1860
Floor slab in centre of Nave
DNB
Cochrane was one of the most
enterprising and controversial officers of the navy of his age. A Scottish nobleman (who inherited the family
Earldom later in life) he joined the navy at a somewhat later age than was
usual at the time, but soon made a splash as the commander of the sloop Speedy and the frigates Pallas and Imperieuse. He entered Parliament in 1806 and was as
outspoken there as he was in the sea-service.
His British career crashed in 1814 when he was involved in a stock
market fraud, resulting in his expulsion from the service and from the
House. He spent the next 20 years as a
roving admiral, leading in turn the navies of Chile, Brazil and Greece. Re-instated in the Royal Navy in 1832, he saw
active command service and ended up as Admiral of the Fleet, the title given to
the senior serving officer of the navy.
He is buried beneath his slab.
COLES, Captain Cowper,
1819-1870 (with H. Burgoyne and crew of
HMS Captain; also a memorial in St Paul’s)
Brass plaque and stained glass
window in North Transept
DNB
see CAPTAIN, HMS
COMMANDO MEMORIALS
Roll of Honour
and Battle Honours Flag in
The
COOK, Captain James, 1728-1779
Part of “Navigators Memorial” wall
plaque in South Cloister
DNB
Cook, a man of humble origins,
went to sea at age 18 and rapidly made a name for himself as a prime navigator
and ship technician in coastal waters;
10 years later he enlisted in the Royal Navy in order to see more of the
world. His navigational and explorations
skills advanced his career rapidly, though still in non-commissioned
ranks. In 1768 he was finally
commissioned Lieutenant and given command of HMS Endeavour for the first of his
great scientific voyages to the south seas and circumnavigations of the
globe. In 1775, now a full Captain, he
set of on his final voyage, this time in search of the northwest passage. The battering his ships took in the far north
necessitated his return in 1779 to the Hawaiian islands, which he had
discovered for the European world in the previous year. Cook was initially greeted and feted as a
near-god, but the islanders’ mood turned
sullen as more demands were made on their resources and hospitality. A large ship’s boat was stolen and, when Cook
went ashore to demand a hostage against its safe return, he was clubbed and
stabbed to death in a brief melée.
COOKE, Captain Edward, 1772-1799
Monument in Chapel of St John the
Evangelist
DNB
Cooke was a well-connected and
able young man from a large military, naval and political family. He had early success as a Lieutenant and
assistant to senior officers in the Mediterranean and then enjoyed even more as
a frigate captain on detached commands.
In his HMS Sybille he roved
the Indian Ocean with great dash and eventually ambushed the much larger French
frigate Forte in the Bay of
Bengal. In the course of a brilliant
action in which the Frenchman was forced to surrender, Cooke was severely
wounded by grape-shot and, a few months later, died in Calcutta.
CORNEWALL / CORNWALL, Captain James, 1699-1744
Monument in Cloisters (moved from
original location in Nave in 1932)
DNB
Cornewall spent much of his career in small independent commands and
had a reputation for enterprise and efficiency.
In 1741 he was moved to the larger ships of the Mediterranean fleet and
there, in the battle off Toulon of 1744, he was killed by French chain-shot in
his HMS Marlborough during a furious
exchange of fire, command then devolving on his nephew, Lieutenant Frederick Cornewall. The
battle itself was an ill-managed and inconclusive affair for both the British
and their French and Spanish opponents.
On the British side, several Admirals and Captains were subsequently
court-martialed and dismissed the service for poor judgment or for lack of
pluck.
COTTRELL, Lieutenant Clement,
1650?-1672 (with C. *Harbord)
Monument in south aisle of Nave,
towards Altar
Cotterell and *Harbord were Lieutenants in
HMS Royal James, the flagship of
Admiral *Montagu, Earl of Sandwich, at the Battle of Solebay against a Dutch fleet. The monument suggests that the young men were
loyal protégés of the Admiral and went down with him and the ship, whilst
others managed to slip away. However,
other accounts of the Admiral’s demise suggest he was drowned when his
overcrowded, small boat capsized as he was being rowed from his burning
flagship to – quite properly – transfer his command to another ship. It is possible, then, that the Lieutenants
were with him at that point.
DALRYMPLE,
Midshipman William, 1766?-1782
Monument in South Choir Aisle,
near Cloister Door
Dalrymple, a member of a prominent Scottish family of lawyers,
politicians and military men, was killed as Captain Elliott Salter’s frigate
HMS Santa Margarita took the somewhat
larger French frigate Amazone
in the
DARWIN, Charles, 1809-1882
DNB
Darwin is of course one of the
great names of science, and many of his later theories on the origin and
development of species were based on the voyage of exploration he took from
1831-1836 in HMS Beagle, an account
of which he published in 1839.
DEANE, General-at-Sea Richard,
1610-1653
Originally buried in the Chapel of
Henry VII, but now no memorial
DNB
Deane spent his early career in
the army, taking the Parliamentary side in the English Civil War. He participated in the trial of King Charles
I and was a signatory of the warrant for his execution. At the end of the war he moved to the Admiralty
and took the rank of General-at-Sea (the equivalent of Admiral, though Deane
was, strictly, never a commissioned sea-officer), fighting in a number of
engagements against the Dutch. In the
last of these, the Battle of the North Foreland (fought over a large area
between the Dutch and English coasts), he was killed by a cannon shot aboard
his Resolution as the engagement
commenced; at that moment he was
standing near General George *Monck, his
co-commander. Deane was buried in the
Abbey but was disinterred on the restoration of Charles II in 1660 re-buried in
a pit in St Margaret’s Churchyard.
DRAKE, Admiral Sir Francis
1540?-1596
Part of “Navigators Memorial”,
wall plaque in South Cloister
DNB
Drake is one of the great names of
the Elizabethan age, a time when the English fleet, part-Royal and
part-private, was as much an international plundering and slave-trading machine
as a means of national defense. Between
1566 and 1580 he amassed great wealth and fame roving round the world as a
virtual buccaneer but in 1585 first took the royal command that led, in 1588,
to his participation in the defeat of the Spanish Armada and the prevention of
an invasion of the home islands. His
successes after then were less marked, and he died of yellow fever off Puerto
Rico in an unsuccessful foray against the Spanish colonies.
DRUMMOND, Rear Admiral Charles,
1692?-1771
Slab in East Cloister
Drummond is a fairly obscure naval
character, though from a large and influential family of Scottish military men,
politicians, financiers and lawyers. His
main claim to fame was his participation in the Battle of Toulon in 1744, in
command of HMS Cambridge; he appears to have retired in 1747.
FRANKLIN, Captain Sir John,
1786-1847 (joint with F. *McClintock)
Monument at doorway to Chapel
of St John the Evangelist, north aisle of North Transept
DNB
Franklin’s primary reputation is
as an explorer of the Arctic, in search of the fabled North West Passage. After
many arduous voyages, Franklin’s HMS Erebus
became locked in extreme ice off King William Island, and he and all his men
perished of exposure, starvation and associated diseases in 1847 and early
1848. The fate of the party was not
discovered until Captain *McClintock’s voyage of 1859, which confirmed
Franklin’s demise in 1847 – Franklin, posted ‘missing’ rather than dead, had
been promoted Rear Admiral by seniority in 1852, but this promotion was
withdrawn when his earlier demise became clear.
Though primarily a figure of the mid-Victorian age,
Hakluyt is buried in the South Transept (or “Poets’ Corner”), but there is no visible memorial to him.
DNB
Hakluyt (pron. ‘Hack-lit’) was an
Elizabethan writer, editor and translator often credited with establishing the
great British tradition of travel literature, publishing in his lifetime vast
and important collection of accounts of voyages, explorations and
discoveries: his Principal Navigations of the English Nation. Hakluyt was also a
priest and, later in life, an official of Westminster Abbey, where he is
buried. The Hakluyt Society, founded in 1847, remains
dedicated to publishing modern editions of great works of early travel
literature.
HALLEY, Captain Edmond, 1656-1742
Wall plaque in Cloisters
DNB
Edmond, or Edmund, Halley was a
great scientist and astronomer, many of whose discoveries and publications were
intended to facilitate navigation at sea.
In 1698 Halley was given a temporary, two-year Post Captaincy in the
Royal Navy to allow him command of the scientific pink-sloop Paramour, and in 1729 he was awarded the
half-pay of a Retired Captain. Halley
also served as Secretary of the Royal Society (then as now,
HALY,
Lieutenant Richard Standish, 1779?-1835
Floor slab in North Transept
Haly’s memorial emphasizes his role in campaigns against
compulsory naval service (‘impressment’, or the press
gang) and, more widely, the institution of slavery. Impressment
effectively ended at the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, though it
was only finally abolished by acts of 1835 and 1853. Britain had abolished the slave trade in
1807, though the practice of slavery in the colonies was not abolished until
1833.
HANWAY,
Jonas, 1712-1786
Memorial in north aisle of North
Transept
DNB
Hanway was a merchant, traveler and philanthropist from a family
of naval officers and administrators (both his father and brother were Captains). He founded the Marine Society in 1756
primarily to offer training and careers at sea to London street urchins, and
the youngsters so sent to ships were generally regarded as good-quality,
willing recruits. Hanway
was similarly industrious in his campaigns to better the lot of young chimney
sweeps.
HARBORD,
Lieutenant Sir Charles, 1642?-1672 (with
C. *Cottrell)
Monument in south aisle of Nave,
towards Altar.
Harbord and *Cotterell were Lieutenants
in HMS Royal James, the flagship of
Admiral *Montagu, Earl of Sandwich, at the Battle of Solebay against a Dutch fleet. The monument suggests that the young men were
loyal protégés of the Admiral and went down with him and the ship, whilst
others managed to slip away. However,
other accounts of the Admiral’s demise suggest he was drowned when his
overcrowded, small boat capsized as he was being rowed from his burning
flagship to – quite properly – transfer his command to another ship. It is possible, then, that the Lieutenants
were with him at that point.
HARDY, Vice Admiral Sir Thomas,
1666-1732
Monument in Nave, near West Door
DNB
We should perhaps first note that
this is not the Admiral Hardy, the close colleague of Admiral Nelson, who is
buried in Greenwich Naval Hospital. This
earlier Hardy, unrelated to his later namesake, was from the British Channel
Islands and his very active naval career ended in somewhat mysterious
circumstances. In 1715 he returned, as a
Rear Admiral, from a command in the Baltic only to be dismissed the service,
supposedly for holding Jacobite sympathies (i.e.,
supporting the claims to the English crown of the male heirs of the deposed King
James II as against those of the incoming Hanoverian King George I). However, no legal action was ever taken
against him, and by some accounts he was later promoted to Vice Admiral, though
on the ‘retired’ list.
HARRISON, Rear Admiral John,
1722?-1791
Wall tablet over East Cloister
Door
Harrison spent the height of his career
as Flag Captain to Admiral Sir George *Pocock but, as
his memorial records, he suffered some sort of stroke in about 1763 and was forced to retire. He was nevertheless promoted Rear Admiral by
seniority in 1779.
HARVEY, Captain John, 1740-1794
(with J. *Hutt)
Monument in North Aisle of Nave
DNB
Harvey was a successful officer
from a large naval family. He commanded
HMS Brunswick at Lord *Howe’s victory
over the French at the Battle of the Glorious 1st of June, but was
wounded at least three times during the engagement and died ashore a few weeks
later, on exactly the same day as his co-honoree Captain *Hutt.
.
HERSCHEL, Sir William, 1738-1822
Floor Plaque in north-east corner
of Nave
Herschel’s fame is as the founder
of the modern science of astronomy (though he was also a distinguished organist
and composer) but it is interesting to recall that the main practical
application of his work during and after his life was sea-navigation by
reference to star and planet positions, mapped with a hitherto unheard of
accuracy and painstakingly recorded in charts and tables (often prepared by his
almost equally distinguished sister, Caroline).
Herschel was buried at Slough, west of London, but his son Sir John Herschel (1792-1871), an astronomer himself of
great distinction, is actually interred in the Nave, near the great
mathematician Sir Isaac Newton.
DNB
HOLMES, Rear Admiral Charles,
1711-1761
Monument in North
Ambulatory
DNB
Holmes had a lively career until
his relatively early death as Commander in Chief of the Jamaica station. He had been one of the few officers to emerge
with his reputation unscathed after a series of court-martials ordered by
Admiral Knowles on his captains following the inconclusive actions against a
Spanish squadron off Havana in 1748. In
1757 he sat on the court-martial panel that – reluctantly - ordered Admiral Byng to be shot for dereliction of duty; and in 1759 he had been third in command of
the fleet, led by Sir Charles *Saunders, that assisted General Wolfe in the
capture of Quebec.
HOPE, Rear Admiral Sir George,
1767-1818
Monument under
Hope, a Scottish officer, was a
prominent member of Lord *Nelson’s Mediterranean fleet, especially admired for
his organizational abilities, and he then commanded HMS Defence with great distinction at
the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. From
1808-1811 he was Captain of the great HMS Victory
herself, though much of his service after 1812 was at the Admiralty in London.
HUTT,
Captain John, 1746-1794
(with J. *
Monument in North Aisle of Nave
DNB
Hutt was the Flag Captain of Rear Admiral Sir Alan Gardner’s
HMS Queen at Lord *Howe’s victory
over the French at the Battle of the Glorious 1st of June. He lost his leg to a cannon shot during the
battle and died ashore a few weeks later, on exactly the same day as his
co-honoree Captain *Harvey.
JULIUS, Captain William,
1665?-1698
Wall plaque in South Choir Aisle,
near Poet’s Corner
Little is known of Julius’s life
and career other than that he had commanded HMS Chester and later HMS Colchester
in the
KEMPENFELD, Rear Admiral Richard, 1718-1782
Monument in Chapel of St Michael
DNB
Kempenfeld (who family was once Swedish) was a fighting commander of
a distinctly scientific bent, always keen to research and try out new ideas for
equipment, communications, crew organization and battle tactics. However, in 1782 he was flying his Rear
Admiral’s flag in HMS Royal George at
Spithead whilst she was undergoing a re-fit. The fully-manned ship was heeled over to come
at her lower hull when she began to flood through her gun-ports and, as the
sudden weight of water strained her internal timbers, some part of her
structure collapsed and she flipped over, taking the Admiral and most of those
aboard – including many visiting women and children – to the bottom of the
rather shallow anchorage. Kempenfeld is buried in
Hampshire.
KENDALL, Colonel James,
1646?-1708
Monument in South Choir Aisle
Colonel Kendall, a member of a
plantation-owning family, served as Governor of Barbados from 1694-1696 and, on
his return to
LAWRENCE, Major General Stringer,
1697-1775
Monument in North Aisle of Nave
DNB
Lawrence, a Welshman, achieved his
chief fame as a soldier in the East India Company forces, establishing British
military dominance of the sub-continent.
However, in his early career, in the late 1720s and early 1730s, he had
served as a Marine officer under Sir Charles *Wager in the
LE NEVE,
Captain Richard, 1646?-1673
Monument in North Choir Aisle
Le Neve
was the young captain of HMS Edgar
when he was killed fighting the Dutch fleet at the
LEY, see
McCARTHY,
see MUSKERRY
McCLINTOCK, Admiral Francis, 1819-1907 (joint with J. *
Monument at Chapel of St
John the Evangelist, north aisle of North Transept
DNB
McClintock was an Irish officer
who made his career in Arctic exploration from his earliest service. In 1857 he commanded the private yacht Fox on
a mission paid for by Sir John *Franklin’s wife to discover her missing
husband’s fate and was able to establish that Franklin and his party has all
perished in the winter of 1847-1848.
McClintock ended his career in warmer climes, as commander-in-chief of
the West Indies station.
MANNERS, Captain Lord Robert,
1758-1782 (with W. *Bayne and W. *Blair)
Monument in North Transept,
opposite HMS *Captain window
DNB
Manners, a son of Lieutenant-General
the Marquis of Granby, was commander of HMS Resolution
at Rodney’s defeat of the French fleet at the Battle of the Saintes,
the final battle of the American Revolutionary War. He was several times injured during the
battle and even lost a leg to a cannon shot;
he died of tetanus complications whilst en route to England in HMS Andromache, and
was buried at sea.
MARLBOROUGH, Captain James Ley, Earl of, 1618-1665
Buried in North Ambulatory, but no
memorial visible.
DNB
Marlborough, a Royalist Captain
during the Civil War, was appointed to command HMS Old James at the Restoration, and was killed fighting against the
Dutch at the Battle of Lowestoft.
MONCK,
General and Admiral George, Duke of ALBEMARLE, 1608-1670
Buried in Henry VII Chapel, with a
monument in South Aisle thereof
Funeral Armour
in Museum
DNB
Monck was a career military man who, when the English Civil War
broke out, initially continued to serve King Charles I with great
distinction. He was captured by the
Parliamentary General Fairfax in 1644 and, after Charles was defeated, was
persuaded to now serve the Commonwealth, first as a General and then, because
of his expertise with artillery, as an Admiral (or ‘General-at-Sea’, as the
Commonwealth term was). He was a
successful as an seaman as he had usually been as a soldier. However, after Lord Protector Cromwell’s
death in 1658, Monck was the chief proponent of
Parliament’s inviting King Charles II to assume his throne in 1660, for which
work he was created Duke of Albemarle.
He then served more years at sea, though not always with his former
success.
MONTAGU,
Admiral Edward, Earl of SANDWICH 1625-1672
Monument in North Aisle of Henry
VII Chapel
DNB
Montagu was one of many of the Civil War-era military men who,
after success as soldiers, became Generals-at-Sea and then, if they continued
to serve the restored Charles II, Admirals.
Montagu, like *Monck,
played a leading role in the return of the King, and was made Earl of Sandwich
for his service. His actual naval career
was somewhat overshadowed by financial scandals, though he will now always be
recalled as the patron of the great diarist and naval administrator Samuel Pepys. Montagu was killed at the Battle of Solebay
against a Dutch fleet when his HMS Royal
George caught fire and blew up;
although his body was recovered, it is not clear whether he was lost in
the explosion or drowned when a small boat in which he was trying to transfer
his command to another ship capsized.
The Earl’s body was later washed ashore and buried in the Chapel.
MONTAGU,
Mr Edward Wortley,
1750-1777
Wall monument in West Walk of
Cloisters
Montague was a grandson of the
famous traveler and writer Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762).
The memorial gives few details of his death in a shipwreck, though we
know he was sailing home from the
MONTAGU,
Captain James, 1752-1794
Monument under
DNB
Montague was part of a large naval
and political family, the son and brother of admirals. He had a very active career as a frigate
captain before being appointed to the 74-gun HMS Montagu at the outbreak of the
Revolutionary War with France (he was not directly related to Admiral Edward *Montagu, Earl of Sandwich for whom the ship was probably
named). He fought that ship in Lord
*Howe’s victory at the Battle of the Glorious 1st of June, but was
killed during the action.
MOUNTBATTEN, Admiral of the Fleet
Lord Louis, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, 1900-1979
Floor plaque at west end of Nave
DNB
Mountbatten, a cousin of Queen
Elizabeth II, was a controversial admiral whose social position and dashing
personal lifestyle sometimes served to overshadow his very real accomplishments
as a serving military officer holding high and important commands, especially
during World War II. He also occupied
the challenging job of Viceroy of India after the war, up to Indian
independence in 1948. Somewhat
unusually, after such a grand title, he returned to naval service until his
retirement in 1964. Mountbatten and
several of his family were murdered by Irish terrorists whilst on a boating
holiday in 1979.
MUSKERRY, Charles / Cormac
McCarthy, Viscount Muskerry and Earl of Clancarty, 1594-1665
Buried in North Ambulatory, but no
memorial visible.
Lord Muskerry
(who was never a formally commissioned naval officer) was killed aboard HMS Royal Charles at the Battle of Lowestoft, alongside his Captain Sir Charles *
NELSON, Vice Admiral Lord
Horatio, 1758-1805
Wax funeral effigy in
DNB
Although Nelson led the boarding
of the Spanish San Josef at the
Battle of Cape St Vincent with the cry “Westminster Abbey
or Glorious Victory!”, his main memorial is in fact in
NEVE see LE NEVE
PARKER, Captain Sir Peter Parker (1785-1814),
Monument below North Aisle Windows of St Margaret’s Church
DNB
Parker was a member of one of
Britain’s largest and most famous naval families; he was also related to the Byron family,
themselves a curious mix of seamen and poets.
Parker had served as a junior officer in Lord *Nelson’s HMS Victory before being promoted Commander
into a small scouting ship, HMS Weazel. It was in
her, in late October 1805, that Parker was the first man to spot the Spanish
and French fleets getting under way off Cadiz, and was able to relay the
message out to Nelson’s fleet at sea. He
was promoted Captain for this service and continued as an active frigate
commander. In 1814, his HMS Menelaus led an attack on American
positions along the Chesapeake River;
near Baltimore Parker was downed by a musketball
during a skirmish ashore. Lord Byron the
poet commemorated the death of his cousin with an Elegy on the Death of Sir Peter Parker.
PARSONS, Sir Charles, 1854-1931
Stained glass window in North
Aisle of Nave
Marine engineer
DNB
Parsons great contribution to
British naval power, especially in the late Victorian and early Edwardian
periods, was the “Parsons Marine Steam Turbine”, a revolutionary design of
great power, robustness and ingenuity.
POCOCK,
Admiral Sir George, 1706-1792
Monument in Chapel of St John the
Evangelist
DNB
Pocock was a well-connected seaman from a large naval family who
rose to high command rather more on account of those connections than his
rather average abilities. He is perhaps most
famous for his participation in the capture of Havana in 1762, which won him a
colossal sum in prize-money and enabled him to retire the following year to a
life of leisure.
PRIESTMAN,
Captain Henry, 1647?-1712
Monument in North Aisle of Nave, near
Altar
Priestman commanded ships and small squadrons between 1672 and 1689,
in which year he went ashore as a naval administrator until he resigned,
following some involvement in a financial scandal, in 1699. The Abbey Guide
gives Priestman’s
as an Admiral, but he was never in fact promoted to that rank.
RALEIGH, Sir Walter, 1552-1618
Memorial window at west end of St
Margaret’s Church, and a brass plaque near East Door in South Aisle of same
Raleigh was one of the most
flamboyant figures of his age, famous as an explorer, seaman, courtier, author
and spy. He charmed a skeptical Queen
Elizabeth I into funding his many adventures – some more successful than
others, but always startling – but fell out of favor under her successor James
I. He was imprisoned in the Tower of
London for treason for a while; and,
when released, embarked on an unauthorised campaign
against Spanish interests in the West Indies, for which temerity James
eventually had him beheaded.
RUMSEY, James, 1743-92
Memorial slab in South Aisle of St Margaret’s Church
Rumsey, an American engineer, was a pioneer of steam propulsion
in Maryland and Virginia. He died in
London whilst on an extended fund-raising visit sponsored by Benjamin Franklin,
amongst others.
RUPERT, Admiral, Prince of
Bavaria and Duke of Cumberland, 1619-1682
Buried in Henry VII, in Mary Queen
of Scots’ vault; small floor inscription
lists those so interred
DNB
Prince Rupert of the Rhine was a
professional soldier, a nephew of King Charles I of England, whom he served
with great dash on land and sea in the English Civil War. After Charles’ defeat, Rupert turned to buccaneering
in the West Indies, but returned to the English royal service on the
restoration of Charles II in 1660. He
then served at sea with his old colleague George *Monck,
but was more renowned for style, courage and an attacking spirit than for actual
naval success.
SANDWICH see MONTAGU
SAUMAREZ / SAUSMAREZ, Captain Philip de, 1710-1747
Monument in North Aisle
DNB
Saumarez was one of a very famous British Channel Islands family of
seamen. He distinguished himself as an
officer in Lord Anson’s great circumnavigation of the early 1740s and went onto
to further success as a leading fighting commander. He commanded HMS Nottingham in Lord Hawke’s action against off
SAUNDERS, Admiral Sir Charles,
1713?-1775
Buried in Islip Chapel, but no
visible memorial.
DNB
Saunders had a reputation as an
able and steady officer, reliable in the most challenging or adverse of circumstances. His greatest claim to fame is his command of
the naval forces supporting General Wolfe’s capture of Quebec in 1759, during
which he took his fleet further up the St Lawrence River than had been thought
possible by many navigators who had viewed the very difficult currents and
rocks downstream of the town.
SHOVELL,
Admiral Sir Cloudesley, 1650-1707
Monument in the South Choir Aisle
DNB
Shovell was the youngest of a band of famous 17th
century seamen (the others being Myngs and Narborough) who came from the same tiny corner of rural
SPEAKER,, HMS
Small plate and badge mounted on west inner doorway of St Margaret's Church
The Speaker was an
escort carrier commissioned in 1943 as the USS Delgada
in the USA and then transferred to the Royal Navy under the “lend-lease”
arrangement. She was re-named for the post of Speaker of the House of Commons,
who always has a special relationship with St Margaret’s, the local “parish
church” across the square from Parliament.
SPRAGGE,
Admiral Edward, (d.1673)
Buried in North Choir Aisle, but
no memorial visible
DNB
Spragge was a fiery, brilliantly accomplished Irish seaman who
fought in many great actions after the restoration of King Charles II in
1660. He was killed in action against
the Dutch fleet at the Battle of the Texel (in which
*Le Neve was also killed), the English being under
the overall command of Prince *Rupert. Spragge, second-in-command, was shifting his flag to
another undamaged ship for the second time in the fierce battle when his small
boat was hit by cannon fire;
the Admiral was injured but in fact died by drowning. His body was later recovered and buried in
the Abbey.
STEWART, Captain John, 1775?-1811
Wall plaque on central North Aisle
of Nave
Stewart, a Scottish officer,
fought one of the most remarkable, but least known, small actions of the
Napoleonic period, as his memorial mentions.
In 1808 his 42-gun frigate HMS Seahorse
encountered two Turkish ships, the 52-gun Badere-i-Zaffer and the 26-gun Alis Fezzan: not only was Stewart heavily outgunned, but
he was outmanned nearly 3-to-1. Over a
two day fight Stewart avoided being boarded, shattered and drove off the Alis Fezzan, and
reduced Badere-i-Zaffer
to a combined wreck and slaughterhouse that was obliged to surrender. Stewart is buried in the center of the Nave.
STORR,
Rear Admiral John, 1709-1783
Wall plaque in Chapel of St John
the Evangelist
Storr’s chief claim to distinction was as the Captain of HMSS Revenge and Monmouth during the Seven Years
War. He is buried in the North Transept,
where this memorial originally was placed.
TOTTY,
Rear Admiral Thomas, 1746?-1802
Monument in Chapel of St Andrew
Totty, a Welsh officer, had his career as the recently arrived
commander of the
TWYSDEN,
Lieutenant John, d.1707
Monument in North Aisle of Nave
The young Lieutenant Twysden was in the doomed fleet of Sir Cloudesley
*Shovell that was wrecked on the Scilly
Isles in 1707. The memorial also recalls
his two army brothers, killed in action in 1708 and 1709.
TYRELL, Rear Admiral Richard,
1716?-1766
Monument in South Aisle of Nave
Tyrell, an Irish officer, was a
nephew of Sir Peter *Warren, and spent most of his active service in the West
Indies, especially in command of the 74-gun HMS Buckingham. Having resigned
command of the Antigua station in 1766, he died of fever aboard his HMS Princess Louisa en route back to
England, and was buried at sea
UNKNOWN WARRIOR of WWI
Floor slab at west end of Nave
The inscription on this famous slab begins, “Beneath this stone rests the body of a British warrior unknown by name or rank brought from France to lie among the most illustrious of the land….”. The Union Flag that covered the coffin at the 1920 funeral hangs in St George’s Chapel (the “Warrior Chapel”, at the south west corner of the Nave). Although the body is likely that of a soldier, it is at least possible that it is that of a sailor, airman or even a non-combatant. By tradition, it is the only floor marker in the Abbey that may never be stepped on, and is usually surrounded by memorial poppies and lit candles. Whilst reading the slab text, look over to your right where, mounted on a column, is a rather inconspicuous frame holding the Congressional Medal of Honor that was presented to the Warrior by US General Pershing in 1921. At the foot of the column are also two modern memorial slabs to the holders of Britain’s premier bravery awards, the purely military Victoria Cross and the military / civil George Cross; many men and women connected with the sea have received these awards.
VERNON, Admiral Edward, 1684-1757
Monument in North Transept, by
North Door
DNB
Vernon was an officer of many
military and organizational accomplishments but will always enjoy fame as the
originator of the official Royal Navy “grog” ration of rum diluted with water
(or, sometimes, lemon juice): his
service nickname had been “Old Grogham” from the
top-coat made of waterproof grogham fabric he
habitually wore on deck. Vernon was also
one of the most intemperate officers of his period, continually at odds with
his political and naval masters and eventually ignominiously fired in 1746 for
writing pamphlets wildly critical of official policy.
VILLIERS,
Lord High Admiral George, Duke of BUCKINGHAM, 1592-1628
Monument at Chapel of Henry VII
DNB
Villiers, a flamboyant courtier of massive self-confidence, usually
misplaced, was chief minister to Kings James I and Charles I successively. He always took a lively interest in naval
affairs – fancying himself as a strategist and commander – and added the post
of Lord High Admiral to his collection in 1619.
Though his naval strategy was usually as calamitous as his other
schemes, he was responsible for vastly increasing its funding and power, thus
ensuring that it was at least a professional, full-time service. Villiers several
times threatened to take personal command of expeditions, though thankfully he
was always thwarted by events from doing so.
His demise was somewhat naval: as
his star began to wane, he was assassinated at Portsmouth outside the house of
one of his Captains by John Felton, a disgruntled former naval officer who
regarded him as a tyrant. Villiers and many of his immediate family,
are buried in the Chapel.
WAGER, Admiral Sir Charles,
1666-1743
Monument in North Transept, by
North Door
DNB
Wager’s chief claim to fame was
his defeat and capture of a Spanish treasure squadron in 1708, an action that
brought him immense wealth It could have
brought him colossal wealth almost beyond belief if his two accompanying
frigate captains had not been somewhat combat shy (both were court-martialed
and dismissed the service), for not only did half the treasure go to the bottom
when one of the Spanish ships blew up (Wager, fighting alone, had to pour too
much fire into her), but a good deal of the other half escaped a weak-willed
pursuit. Although Wager could still have
then retired in ease, he continued in active, and distinguished, naval service
for many years. Wager is buried near his
monument.
WARREN, Vice Admiral Sir Peter,
1703-1752
Monument in North Transept, under
HMS *Captain window.
DNB
Warren, an Irish officer, achieved
fame as “the enterprising admiral” who won vast prize money by capturing French
and Spanish ships in the 1740s and who then invested his wealth in property,
stocks, and trade to increase it several fold:
at one point he owned several hundred acres of the island of Manhattan
(his wife was a New Yorker), but these were sold out of the family after
Warren’s early death at home in Ireland.
WATSON, Vice Admiral Charles,
1714-1757
Monument in West Aisle of
North Transept
DNB
Watson came from a naval family but
was actually the son of an official of Westminster Abbey itself. His rise in the navy was swift and
well-deserved and he went onto play a brilliant role in support of General Lord
Clive’s campaigns to supplant French influence in India. However, the local climate broke his health
and he died aged only 43;
he is buried at
WEST, Vice Admiral Temple,
1713-1757
Monument in North Choir Aisle
DNB
West, from an influential
political family was the son-in-law of Sir John *Balchen
and for a time was Sir Peter *Warren’s flag-captain. West’s connections gave him access to
important commands at the centre of events, and he usually performed well. However he is often best remembered for
declining a command late in his career, following the execution of Admiral Byng for negligence in the Minorca campaign of 1756. West had been a part of that action and like
many officers – including some of those who tried the unfortunate admiral – he
felt that Byng’s death sentence was out of all
proportion to his offence. In refusing
the offered command of a squadron West famously wrote to the Admiralty that
“although he could answer for his loyalty and good intentions, he could not
undertake to be capitally responsible on all occasions for the correctness of
his judgment”.
WRAGG, Mr William, 1714-1776?
Monument in South Choir Aisle
Wragg was a wealthy American lawyer and politician from South Carolina who went into exile as a Crown loyalist on the outbreak of the Revolution, but was drowned in a wreck off the Dutch coast en route to England. Although his memorial gives a death date of September 1776, other sources place his death exactly one year later, in 1777.
