Historical Description of Westminster Abbey, Its Monuments and Curiosities
Part 8
Admiral Sir JOHN BALCHEN, Knt.--On this fine monument, in relief, is the representation of a ship perishing in a storm. The inscription, which is historical, is here inserted:--"To the memory of Sir John Balchen, Knt., Admiral of the White Squadron of his Majesty's fleet in 1744. Being sent out Commander-in-Chief of the combined fleets of England and Holland, to cruise on the enemy, was, on his return home in his Majesty's ship the Victory, lost in the Channel by a violent storm; from which sad circumstance of his death we may learn that neither the greatest skill, judgment, or experience, joined to the most firm, unshaken resolution, can resist the fury of the winds and waves; and we are taught by the passages of his life, which were filled with great and gallant actions, but ever accompanied with adverse gales of fortune, that the brave, the worthy, and the good man, meets not always his reward in this world. Fifty-eight years of faithful and painful services he had passed, when, being just retired to the government of Greenwich Hospital to wear out the remainder of his days, he was once more, and for the last time, called out by his King and country, whose interest he ever preferred to his own, and his unwearied zeal for their service ending only in his death; which weighty misfortune to his afflicted family became heightened by many aggravating circumstances attending it; yet amidst their grief, had they the mournful consolation to find his gracious and Royal Master mixing his concern with the general lamentations of the public, for the calamitous fate of so zealous, so valiant, and so able a commander; and, as a lasting memorial of the sincere love and esteem borne by his widow to a most affectionate and worthy husband, this honorary monument was erected by her. He was born Feb. 2, 1669, married Susanna, daughter of Colonel Aprice, of Washingly, in the county of Huntingdon. Died Oct. 7, 1744, leaving one son and one daughter, the former of whom, George Balchen, survived him but a short time; for being sent to the West Indies in 1745, Commander of his Majesty's ship the Pembroke, he died at Barbadoes, in December the same year, aged twenty-eight, having walked in the steps, and imitated the virtues and bravery of his good but unfortunate father." When the Victory was lost she had on board near one thousand souls, one hundred of whom were gentlemen volunteers.--_Scheemakers, sculptor._
Bishop of BANGOR.--The figure of Religion is represented in a mournful attitude, leaning on a rock, whereon is writ the inscription, holding in her hand a cross; on the other side is represented an angel pointing to the cross, as a source of consolation whereby we are saved--why weep? the rock implies firmness of faith. A mitre, crozier, &c., are at the bottom.--"Near this place are interred the remains of the Right Rev. John Warren, D.D., Bishop of St. David's in 1779, and translated to the see of Bangor in 1783. These episcopal stations he filled for more than twenty years, with great ability and virtue. His charity, liberality, candour, and benevolence, will long be remembered; his eminent learning and unwearied application rendered him highly serviceable to the laws, as well as the religion of his country, towards which he was most sincerely attached. He was son of Richard Warren, D.D., Rector of Cavendish, and Archdeacon of Suffolk, and brother of Richard Warren, M.D., celebrated for his knowledge and successful practice, and many years Physician in Ordinary to his Majesty. He married Elizabeth Southwell, daughter of Henry Southwell, Esq., of Wisbeach, Cambridgeshire, who, fully sensible of his many distinguished virtues, has offered this grateful tribute to his memory, with the most unfeigned sincerity and respect. He died Jan. 27, 1800, in the seventy-second year of his age."--_Westmacott, jun., sculptor._
Lord AUBREY BEAUCLERK.--This monument is ornamented with arms, trophies, and naval ensigns; and in an oval niche, on a pyramid of dove-coloured marble, is a beautiful bust of this young nobleman. On the pedestal is this historical inscription:--"The Lord Aubrey Beauclerk was the youngest son of Charles, Duke of St. Albans, by Diana, daughter of Aubrey de Vere, Earl of Oxford. He went early to sea, and was made a commander in 1731. In 1740 he was sent upon that memorable expedition to Carthagena, under the command of Admiral Vernon, in his Majesty's ship the Prince Frederick, which, with three others, was ordered to cannonade the Castle Bocachica. One of these being obliged to quit her station, the Prince Frederick was exposed not only to the fire from the Castle, but to that of Fort St. Joseph, and to two ships that guarded the mouth of the harbour, which he sustained for many hours that day, and part of the next, with uncommon intrepidity. As he was giving his command upon deck both his legs were shot off; but such was his magnanimity, that he would not suffer his wounds to be dressed till he had communicated his orders to his First Lieutenant, which were--_To fight his ship to the last extremity_. Soon after this he gave some directions about his private affairs, and then resigned his soul, with the dignity of a hero and a Christian. Thus was he taken off in the thirty-first year of his age; an illustrious commander of superior fortitude and clemency, amiable in his person, steady in his affection, and equalled by few in the social and domestic virtues of politeness, modesty, candour, and benevolence. He married the widow of Colonel F. Alexander, a daughter of Sir H. Newton, Knt., Envoy-Extraordinary to the Court of Florence and the Republic of Genoa, and Judge to the High Court of Admiralty." His epitaph over the inscription:--
"While Britain boasts her empire o'er the deep, This marble shall compel the brave to weep: As men, as Britons, and as soldiers mourn-- 'Tis dauntless, loyal, virtuous Beauclerk's urn. Sweet were his manners as his soul was great, And ripe his worth, though immature his fate; Each tender grace that joy and love inspire, Living, he mingled with his martial fire; Dying, he bid Britannia's thunder roar, And Spain still felt him when he breathed no more."
--_Scheemakers, sculptor._
The stained window above commemorates the foundering of H.M.S. _Captain_, on September 7th, 1870, when Capt. Hugh Burgoyne, V.C., Capt. Cowper Coles, C.B., with 49 officers, and 402 men and boys, perished off Cape Finisterre, in the service of their country. The names are inscribed on brasses in St. Paul's Cathedral. The subjects of the window are--The Sea giving up her Dead; The Passage through the Red Sea; The Fleet of Solomon; Building the Ships of Tyre; Jonah delivered from the Whale; Christ Stilling the Tempest; Christ Walking on the Sea; Christ Teaching from the Ship; The Miraculous Draught; and the Shipwreck of St. Paul.
PERCY KIRK, Esq.--On each side of a fine bust of this gentleman is a winged seraph; one having a dagger in his right hand inverted, and in his left a helmet; the other resting on a ball, and holding in his left hand a torch reversed. The inscription says, he was Lieutenant-General of his Majesty's armies; that he died January 1, 1741, aged fifty-seven; and that he was son of Percy Kirk, Esq., a Lieutenant-General in the reign of James II., by the Lady Mary, daughter of George Howard, Earl of Suffolk. Diana Dormer, his niece and sole heiress, died February 22, 1743, aged thirty-two.--_Scheemakers, sculptor._
RICHARD KANE.--On this tomb is a curious bust of this gentleman, of white marble, upon a handsome pedestal, whereon are inscribed the most striking passages of his life. He was born at Down, in Ireland, Dec. 20, 1666. In 1689, he first appeared in a military capacity at the memorable siege of Derry; and after the reduction of Ireland followed William III. into Flanders, where he distinguished himself, particularly by his intrepid behaviour at the siege of Namurre, where he was severely wounded. In 1702, he bore a commission in the service of Queen Anne, and assisted in the expedition to Canada; from whence he again returned to Flanders, and fought under the Duke of Argyle, and afterwards under Lord Carpenter. In 1712 he was made Sub-Governor of Minorca, through which island he caused a road to be made, before thought impracticable. In 1720 he was ordered by George I. to the defence of Gibraltar, where he sustained an eight months' siege against the Spaniards, when all hope of relief was extinguished; for which gallant service he was, by George II. rewarded with the government of Minorca, where he died, Dec. 19, 1736, and was buried in the Castle of St. Philip.--_Rysbrack, sculp._
Bishop BRADFORD.--The inscription is in Latin, surrounded with the arms and proper ensigns of his several dignities. He was some time Rector of St. Mary-le-Bow, from thence advanced to the See of Carlisle and afterwards translated to that of Rochester, with the Deanery of this Church, and that of the Hon. Order of the Bath annexed. He died May 17, 1731, in the seventy-ninth year of his age.--_Cheere, sculptor._
Dr. BOULTER, Archbishop of Armagh.--The bust of the Archbishop is very natural; his long flowing hair and solemn gracefulness excite a kind of reverential respect in an attentive beholder. The ensigns of his dignity, with which his monument is ornamented, are most exquisitely finished. The inscription is enclosed in a beautiful border, and is as follows:--"Dr. Hugh Boulter, late Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of all Ireland, a Prelate so eminent for the accomplishment of his mind, the purity of his heart, and the excellency of his life, that it may be thought superfluous to specify his titles, recount his virtues, or even to erect a monument to his fame. His titles he not only deserved, but adorned; his virtues are manifest in his good works, which had never dazzled the public eye, if they had not been too bright to be concealed; and as to his fame, whosoever has any sense of merit, any reverence for piety, and passion for his country, or any charity for mankind, will assist in preserving it fair and spotless, and when brass and marble shall mix with the dust they cover, every succeeding age may have the benefit of his illustrious example. He was born January 4, 1671; was consecrated Bishop of Bristol, 1718; translated to the Archbishopric of Armagh, 1723; and from thence to heaven, Sept. 27, 1742."--_S. H. Cheere, sculptor._
North Aisle.
Looking back on your left is a new monument to the memory of Sir THOMAS FOWELL BUXTON, Bart., born April 1, 1786; died Feb. 19, 1845. Endowed with a vigorous mind, of dauntless courage and untiring energy, he was early led by the love of God to devote his powers to the good of man. In Parliament he laboured for the improvement of prison discipline; for the amendment of the criminal code, for the suppression of Suttees in India, for the liberation of the Hottentots in Southern Africa; and, above all, for the emancipation of eight hundred thousand slaves in the British dominions. In this last righteous enterprise, after ten years of arduous conflict, a final victory was given to him and his coadjutors "by the grace of our God," on the memorable 1st of August, 1834. The energies of his mind were afterwards concentrated on a great attempt to extinguish the slave trade in Africa, by the substitution of agriculture and commerce, and by the civilizing influence of the Gospel. Exhausted in mind and body, "he fell asleep," reposing in faith on his Redeemer, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. This monument is erected by his friends and fellow-labourers at home and abroad, assisted by the grateful contributions of many thousands of the African race.--_Thrupp, sculptor._
Next against the screen of the choir is a fine old monument, whereon lies the effigy of a gentleman at full length in a tufted gown; and underneath, upon the base, was a lady kneeling. By the inscription, these appear to represent Sir THOMAS HESKETH, Attorney of the Court of Wards of Liveries in Queen Elizabeth's time; and JULIAN, his wife, who caused this monument to be erected. He died October 15, 1605.
Dame MARY JAMES.--A very neat monument, being an urn, wreathed, and crowned with a Viscount's coronet, on a handsome pedestal. By the inscription, it appears that this lady was the wife of Sir John James, of the ancient family of the Lords of Hosterick, in Holland, and daughter of Sir Robert Killigrew, Vice-Chamberlain to Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I. She died Nov. 6, 1677.
HUGH CHAMBERLAIN, M.D., and F.R.S.--The principal figure on this monument lies, as it were, at ease, upon a sarcophagus, leaning on his right arm, with his hand upon his cap and his head uncovered. In his left hand he holds a book, indicating thereby his intense application to study. On each side are the emblems of physic and longevity; and over his head is Fame descending with a trumpet in one hand, and in the other a wreath. On the top are weeping cherubs, and on the pedestal a long inscription in Latin, setting forth his vast knowledge and industry in his profession, his humanity in relieving the sick, and his connections and affinities in social and private life. This gentleman was famous for the improvements he made in midwifery, the practice of which, since his time, has been studied by the faculty to great advantage. He died June 17, 1728, aged sixty-four.--_Scheemakers and Delvaux, sculptors._
Doctor SAMUEL ARNOLD, late Organist of this Church, died October 22, 1802, aged sixty-two years. This monument was erected by his afflicted widow:--
"Oh, let thy still-loved Son inscribe thy stone, And with a Mother's sorrows mix his own."
A sickle cutting the lyre is represented below. Turning round on your right is--
Captain PHILIP DE SAUSMAREZ.--The inscription on this monument is a recital of the deceased's naval exploits, one of those few whose lives ought rather to be measured by their actions than their days. From sixteen to thirty-seven years of age he served in the navy, and was often surrounded with dangers and difficulties unparalleled, always proving himself an able, active, and gallant officer. He went out a lieutenant on board his Majesty's ship the Centurion, under the auspicious conduct of Commodore Anson, in his expedition to the South Seas. He was commanding officer of the same ship when she was driven from her moorings at the Isle of Titian. In the year 1746, being Captain of the Nottingham, a sixty gun ship, he (then alone) attacked and took the Mars, a French ship of sixty-four guns. In the first engagement of the following year when Admiral Anson defeated and took a squadron of French men-of-war and Indiamen, he had an honourable share; and in the second, under Admiral Hawke, when the enemy, after a long and obstinate resistance, was again routed, in pursuing two ships that were making their escape, he gloriously, but unfortunately fell. He was the son of Matthew de Sausmarez, of the Island of Guernsey, Esq., by Ann Durell, of the Island of Jersey, his wife. He was born November 17, 1710, killed October 14, 1747, and buried in the Old Church at Plymouth, with all the honours due to his distinguished merits. This monument was erected by his brothers and sisters.--_S. H. Cheere, sculptor._
Doctor CHARLES BURNEY.--A tablet with the following inscription, written by his daughter:--"Sacred to the memory of Charles Burney, Mus. D., F.R.S., who, full of years and full of virtues, the pride of his family, the delight of society, the unrivalled chief and scientific historian of his tuneful art--beloved, revered, regretted, breathed in Chelsea College his last sigh; leaving to posterity a fame unblemished, raised on a noble basis of intellectual attainments. High principles and pure benevolence, goodness with gaiety, talents with taste, were of his gifted mind the blended attributes; while the genial hilarity of his airy spirits animated or softened his every earthly toil: and a conscience without reproach, prepared in the whole tenor of his mortal life, through the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ, his soul for heaven. Amen. Born April 7, O.S., 1726; died April 12, 1814."
JOHN BLOW, Doctor in Music.--Under the tablet is a canon in four parts, set to music, with enrichments, cherubs, and flowers. In the centre is an English inscription, by which it appears he was Organist, Composer, and Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal thirty-five years, and Organist to this Abbey, fifteen years; that he was scholar to Dr. Christopher Gibbons, and Master to the famous Mr. Purcell, and to most of the eminent masters of his time. He died Oct. 1, 1708, in his sixtieth year.
WILLIAM CROFT.--On the pedestal of this monument, in bas-relief, is an organ, and on the top a bust of the deceased, who was Doctor in Music, Master of the Children, Organist and Composer of the Chapel Royal, and Organist of Westminster Abbey. He died August 14, 1727, aged fifty.
DR. MONK, Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol.--This ecclesiastic is represented in a fine brass in the centre of the aisle, holding a crosier surmounted with the paschal lamb, the four corners representing the evangelical emblems, while the inscription informs us that he was Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, Canon of Westminster, Dean of Peterborough, and Regius Professor at Cambridge, and died June 6, 1859, aged seventy-four.--_Hardiman._
On your left, on the choir side, against the column, is a small tablet to the memory of HENRY PURCELL, Esq., with the following inscription:--"Here lies Henry Purcell, who left this life, and is gone to that blessed place, where only his harmony can be exceeded." A short, but comprehensive epitaph, expressive of his great merit. He died Nov. 21, 1695, in his thirty-seventh year.
Sacred to the memory of Captain GEORGE BRYAN, late of His Majesty's Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, son of the Rev. John Bryan and Eliza Louisa, his wife, of Hertford, in the island of Jamaica. He fell in the month of July, 1809, in the twenty-seventh year of his age, at the battle of Talavera, in Spain, so glorious in the annals of British valour, but so deeply afflicting to a widowed mother. His remains were interred, with every military honour, in the garden of the convent of St. Jeronimo, when even the officers of the enemy joined in evincing respect to his memory and sympathy for his untimely fate. The monument represents a mourner reclining on the basement of a column that holds an urn, over which is the name of Talavera. Military trophies and implements of war are introduced.--_Bacon, jun., sculptor._
Sir THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES: his figure is seated on a handsome moulded pedestal in serious contemplation; the following inscription underneath:--"To the memory of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, LL.D., F.R.S., Lieutenant-Governor of Java, and first President of the Zoological Society of London; born in 1781, died in 1826. Selected at an early age to conduct the Government of the British conquests in the Indian Ocean, by wisdom, vigour, and philanthropy, he raised Java to happiness and prosperity unknown under former rulers. After the surrender of that Island to the Dutch, and during his government in Sumatra, he founded an emporium at Singapore, where he established freedom of person as the right of the soil, and freedom of trade as the right of the port, he secured to the British flag the maritime superiority of the Indian Seas. Ardently attached to science, he laboured successfully to add to the knowledge and enrich the museums of his native land: in promoting the welfare of the people committed to his charge, he sought the good of his country and the glory of God."--_Chantrey, sculptor._
ALMERICUS DE COURCY, Baron of Kinsale.--His Lordship is here represented in full proportion, reposing himself, after the fatigues of an active life, under a rich canopy, finely ornamented and gilt. He was descended, as his inscription shows, from the famous John de Courcy, Earl of Ulster, who, in the reign of John, in consideration of his great valour, obtained that extraordinary privilege to him and his heirs, of standing covered before the King. This nobleman was greatly in favour with Charles II. and James II., and commanded a troop of horse under the latter. He died Feb. 9, 1719, aged fifty-seven.
"To the memory of WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, born in Hull, August 24, 1759, died in London, July 29, 1833. For nearly half a century a member of the House of Commons, and for six parliaments during that period one of the two representatives for Yorkshire. In an age and country fertile in great and good men, he was among the foremost of those who fixed the character of their time; because to high and various talents, to warm benevolence, and to universal candour, he added the abiding eloquence of a Christian life. Eminent as he was in every department of public labour, and a leader in every work of charity, whether to relieve the temporal or the spiritual wants of his fellow men, his name will ever be specially identified with those exertions which, by the blessing of God, removed from England the guilt of the African Slave Trade, and prepared the way for the abolition of slavery in every colony in the empire. In the prosecution of these objects, he relied not in vain on God: but in the progress, he was called to endure great obloquy and great opposition. He outlived, however, all enmity, and in the evening of his days withdrew from public life and public observation to the bosom of his family. Yet he died not unnoticed or forgotten by his country: the Peers and Commons of England, with the Lord Chancellor and the Speaker at their head, in solemn procession from their respective houses, carried him to his fitting place among the mighty dead around, here to repose, till, through the merits of Jesus Christ his only Redeemer and Saviour, whom in his life and in his writings he had desired to glorify, he shall rise in the resurrection of the just." His figure is seated on a pedestal, very ingeniously done, and truly expressive of his age, and of the pleasure he seemed to derive from his own thoughts.--_Joseph, sculptor._
Above is Dr. PLENDERLEATH.--A medallion of the deceased is fixed up with ribbon, under which is Hygeia, the cup of health, a serpent twining round, and a bough of cypress lying on it. Below is written in a book--"He healed--'many that were sick of divers diseases.'" (St. Mark, i. 34.) Under the book is an Æsculapius as an emblem of physic. "In memory of Dr. John Plenderleath, third son of John Plenderleath, Esq., of Glen, in Tweedale, Scotland, Physician to the forces serving under the Marquis of Wellington in Portugal, who died at Coimbra, of a typhus fever, on the 18th of June, 1811, aged twenty-eight years. He was eminently distinguished by the strength of his mental faculties, his great classical and professional knowledge; and no less by the humanity of his heart, which manifested itself on all occasions, and especially towards the numerous sick and wounded, both of his countrymen and of the enemy, which were committed to his care. In commemoration of his public virtues, and of his many amiable qualities in private life, this monument is erected as a small tribute of parental affection."--_Bacon, jun., sculptor._
A monument to Sir THOMAS DUPPA, prettily ornamented with flowers and foliage, and on the top with an urn wreathed. The inscription shows that Sir Thomas in his youth waited on Charles II. when he was Prince of Wales. He was afterwards made Gentleman Usher and Daily Waiter, and then Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, in which office he died, April 25, 1694, aged 75.