Poets' Corner - Burials

Burials

Image Name Born Died Age at death Details of
funeral		 Occupation
Robert Adam 1728 1792 63 ... Architect
Isaac Barrow 1630 1677 46 ... Mathematician
Francis Beaumont 1584 1616 31–32 Grave is unmarked. Name is inscribed on the Cowley gravestone. Playwright
... John Beaumont 1583 1627 43–44 ... Poet
... William Benson unknown 1549 unknown ... Abbot of Westminster
... Mary Eleanor Bowes 1749 1800 51 Reported by some to have been buried in a court dress, with all the accessories necessary for a Royal audience, plus a small silver trumpet, and by others as in her bridal dress. Poet and playwright
Robert Browning 1812 1889 77 Browning's grave immediately adjacent to that of Alfred Tennyson. Poet and playwright
Richard Busby 1606 1695 88–89 ... Headmaster
William Camden 1551 1623 72 ... Antiquarian and historian
Thomas Campbell 1777 1844 66 Funeral 3 July 1844. Poet
... Henry Francis Cary 1772 1844 72 Funeral 14 August 1844. Author and translator
Isaac Casaubon 1559 1614 55 ... Classical scholar
William Chambers 1723 1796 75 ... Architect
Geoffrey Chaucer c. 1343 1400 56–57 Grave is unmarked. Name is inscribed on the Cowley gravestone. Memorial was also erected. Author and poet
Abraham Cowley 1618 1667 48–49 ... Poet
Richard Cumberland 1732 1811 79 ... Playwright
William Davenant 1606 1668 62 ... Poet and playwright
John Denham 1614 or 1615 1669 63–65 Grave is unmarked. Name is inscribed on the Cowley gravestone. Poet
Charles Dickens 1812 1870 58 Dickens's will did not dictate his place of burial, but stipulated that there be no grand funeral ceremony. He was therefore given a secret early-morning funeral in the Abbey, 14 June 1870. Author
Michael Drayton 1563 1631 67–68 Died in London. Monument placed by the Countess of Dorset, with memorial lines attributed to Ben Jonson. Poet
John Dryden 1631 1700 68 Grave is unmarked. Name is inscribed on the Cowley gravestone. Memorial was also erected. Poet and playwright
... Adam Fox 1883 1977 93–94 ... Oxford Professor of Poetry
Canon of Westminster Abbey
David Garrick 1717 1779 61 ... Playwright
Eva Marie Veigel 1724 1822 98 ... Dancer
John Gay 1685 1732 47 ... Poet and playwright
William Gifford 1756 1826 70 Gifford wanted to be buried in South Audley Chapel, "but for the pressing request of his grateful executor, who was anxious that Gifford's remains should be mingled with the great and good in Poets' Corner, Westminster-abbey." Poet and editor
George Grote 1794 1871 76 ... Historian
Richard Hakluyt c.1552 1616 63–64 ... Author
George Frideric Handel 1685 1759 74 ... Composer
Thomas Hardy 1840 1928 87 Hardy's funeral, on 16 January 1928, proved a controversial occasion because Hardy himself had wished to be interred at Stinsford in the same grave as his first wife, Emma. His executor Sir Sydney Carlyle Cockerell, however, insisted that he be placed in the Poets' Corner. A compromise was reached whereby his heart was buried at Stinsford with Emma, and his ashes in the Abbey. Author and poet
Henry Irving 1838 1905 67 ... Actor
Dr Samuel Johnson 1709 1784 75 ... Author, poet and lexicographer
Rudyard Kipling 1865 1936 70 ... Author and poet
... Nicholas Litlington before 1315 1386 70+ ... Abbot of Westminster
Thomas Macaulay 1800 1859 59 Public funeral, 9 January 1860. Poet and historian
James Macpherson 1736 1796 59 ... Author and poet
John Masefield 1878 1967 88 According to his wishes, was cremated and his ashes placed in Poets’ Corner. Poet and author
... Robert Moray 1608/9 1673 63–65 Grave is unmarked. Name is inscribed on the Cowley gravestone. Statesman and natural philosopher
Gilbert Murray 1866 1957 91 ... Scholar and translator
Laurence Olivier 1907 1989 82 ... Actor
Old Tom Parr 1483 1635 152 ... Supposedly long-lived Englishman
Matthew Prior 1664 1721 57 Grave is unmarked. Name is inscribed on the Cowley gravestone. Memorial was also erected. Poet and diplomat
Nicholas Rowe 1674 1718 44 ... Playwright and poet
Charles de Saint-Évremond 1610 1703 93 Grave is unmarked. Name is inscribed on the Cowley gravestone. Memorial was also erected. Essayist and literary critic
Richard Brinsley Sheridan 1751 1816 64 ... Playwright and poet
... Robert South 1634 1716 81 ... Theologian and poet
Edmund Spenser c. 1552 1599 46–47 ... Poet
... Robert Stapylton c.1607 1669 61–62 ... Playwright
... Mary Steele 1678 1718 40 ... Letter writer
Alfred Tennyson 1809 1892 83 Large public funeral, 12 October 1892. In 1893 the government formally requested there be a bust of Tennyson in Poets Corner. The businessman-botanist Charles Jenner offered Thomas Woolner's 1857 bust of Tennyson to the Abbey, and it was placed near Tennyson's gravestone, by moving a tablet to Christopher Anstey. There was no formal unveiling ceremony. Poet
Connop Thirlwall 1797 1875 78 ... Bishop and historian
... Thomas Triplet 1602 1670 68 ... Prebendary
... Owen Tudor 1429 1501 71–72 ... Monk of Westminster

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Famous quotes containing the word burials:

    “Cole’s Hill was the scene of the secret night burials of those who died during the first year of the settlement. Corn was planted over their graves so that the Indians should not know how many of their number had perished.”
    —For the State of Massachusetts, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)