THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES
—”_our slowly grown
And crown’d Republic_.”
TENNYSON (_To the Queen_).
It is very difficult properly to divide the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, because, of course, history does not cut itself up into
lengths of a hundred years. But in telling the story of a place like the
Abbey it is better to have some division, and as the French Revolution
took place nearly at the end of the eighteenth century, a kind of
natural division comes at that time, for we know that the French
Revolution made a great and lasting change all over Europe.
[Illustration:
[_D. Weller_.
STATUE OF WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
]
When we begin to speak of the early nineteenth century we have again to
think of wars, for the fights with Napoleon were still going on.
Nelson’s great victories have not left much record in the Abbey,
excepting the wax effigy of the great Admiral himself, of which we will
speak later. One of Nelson’s Captains, Edward Cooke, has a monument in
the Abbey. Cooke died of a wound which he received during a victorious
fight with a French frigate in the Bay of Bengal in 1799.
When we think of these wars with Napoleon there is one grave in the
Abbey which at once comes to our mind. It is that of the younger William
Pitt, son of the great Earl of Chatham, of whom we read in the last
chapter. William Pitt became Prime Minister of England when he was only
twenty-three, and his ministry lasted through some years of a very
troubled and anxious time. In spite of Nelson’s victories he was so
crushed by Napoleon’s victory over the Austrians and Russians at
Austerlitz in December 1805, that he died shortly afterwards, worn out
with anxiety and disappointment. He was buried in the same vault with
his father, and he had a large monument put up to him over the great
West Door. He was only forty-six when he died, and it seems sad to think
that he should not have lived to see his country’s victories in the
Peninsular War and at Waterloo.
A further memorial of these wars is the bust of the Corsican patriot,
Pasquale de’ Paoli, who fought against Napoleon for the independence of
Corsica, and finally took refuge in England. His monument brings back an
interesting bit of English history, namely, that for a short time, from
1794 to 1797, Corsica was under British rule.
The war known as the Peninsular War began in 1808. England was helping
Spain against Napoleon, who had dethroned the King of Spain and made his
own brother, Joseph, King instead. The Spaniards rose in arms, and drove
Joseph Buonaparte out of Madrid. They appealed to England for help, and
Sir Arthur Wellesley went out with 10,000 men. He defeated the French at
Roliça, a victory which is commemorated in the Abbey by the tablet to
Lieutenant-Colonel George Lake, who fell in that battle.
The next year, 1809, was famous for the Battle of Corunna, where Sir
John Moore defeated the French and lost his own life. One of the
officers who fought at the Battle of Corunna, General Coote Manningham,
has a memorial in the North Transept. The services of Wellington’s chief
engineer, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Richard Fletcher, who died in 1813, are
recalled by a tablet to his memory in the North-West Tower. Fletcher
directed the engineering works during the sieges of Badajos, and
commanded the assault on the fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo, when these
fortresses were taken and held against the French by Wellington in 1812.
He was killed in an assault on the town of St. Sebastian. In the Nave is
buried Sir John Leith, another soldier who fought in this war and
greatly distinguished himself. He fought at Corunna, Badajos, and
Salamanca. He died in 1816, in the West Indies, where he was in command
of the forces.
There are memorial tablets in the Abbey to three other officers who fell
in the Peninsular War. One is to Captain Bryan, who fell in the Battle
of Talavera in 1809, when Sir Arthur Wellesley defeated King Joseph
Buonaparte and Marshals Victor and Jourdan; the second is to a
Lieutenant Beresford, who was killed at Ciudad Rodrigo in 1812; and the
third is to Lieutenant-Colonel Macleod, who fell at the siege of
Badajos, also in 1812.
In the Nave is buried a famous Admiral, Thomas Cochrane, Earl of
Dundonald, who served in many of our wars, first against Spain and then
on the Spanish side in the Peninsular War. Lord Dundonald died in 1860,
but he left the navy in 1814 because of a false accusation which was
made against him. He then went out to Chili, where he served the cause
of Chilian Independence. Lord Dundonald was afterwards proved to have
been innocent of the charges made against him, and his banner as Knight
of the Bath was restored to its place in Henry VII’s Chapel. At the time
of his disgrace it had been taken away and kicked down the steps of the
Chapel.
In the Nave is another monument connected with this time in our history.
It is that of Spencer Perceval, who was Prime Minister during the
Peninsular War. He was shot in the Lobby of the House of Commons in 1812
by a man whose business had been ruined by the war, and who was supposed
to be mad.
The bust of Lord John Russell in the North-West Tower, a part which is
often called “Whigs’ Corner,” reminds us of the great Parliamentary
Reform Bill, which was one of the most important events in the last
century. The change was much needed, as the people of the country were
not properly represented. Some large and important towns had no member
at all, while some very small and insignificant places were allowed to
return one or more members to Parliament. The reform was made more
difficult on account of the disturbances and revolutions in France and
elsewhere, which made people think it was better to have no changes at
all. However, in 1831, Lord John Russell brought in his Reform Bill,
which passed, after great discussion and struggle, in 1832. Lord John
Russell, afterwards Earl Russell, was educated at Westminster School. He
is not buried in the Abbey, although it was proposed to give him a
public funeral there. It was his own wish to be buried with his family
at Chenies, in Buckinghamshire.
We have just spoken of the changes and revolutions that went on in
France during the earlier years of the nineteenth century. We are
reminded of these when we find in the Abbey the beautiful tomb of the
Duc de Montpensier, brother of King Louis Philippe, who died in 1807,
while he and his brother were living in exile in England. The Duke is
buried in Henry VII’s Chapel, quite close to Dean Stanley. The Duc de
Montpensier is the only French prince buried in the Abbey. His monument
is one of the finest modern ones that we have at Westminster. Queen
Louise of Savoy, wife of King Louis XVIII of France, was also buried for
a short time in the Abbey, and there is an interesting account of her
funeral in the Precentor’s book. Her body was afterwards removed to
Sardinia. Queen Louise died in 1810.
But to return to our own English history. One of the first acts of the
new reformed Parliament was to abolish negro slavery in all the English
colonies and possessions. This great work of Christian charity had been
for years in the minds of many good people who had worked and fought
hard for the cause. The measure passed in 1833.
Like the Reform Bill, the abolition of the Slave Trade was one of the
greatest events in the nineteenth century, and there are many memorials
of it in the Abbey.
We will begin by mentioning Charles James Fox, who was the great
political rival of the younger Pitt, and who died a few months after
him, in 1806. He was buried in the North Transept, but his monument is
in the Nave, not far from Pitt’s. The kneeling figure of the negro on
the monument is an allusion to Fox’s last speech in the House of
Commons, when he proposed the abolition of the Slave Trade.
In the South Transept there is a monument to Granville Sharp, who did so
much in the cause that he was called the father of the Anti-Slavery
Movement. He was also one of the founders of the British and Foreign
Bible Society. He died in 1813, and the African Society put up the
monument to him.
Zachary Macaulay, who had been Governor of Sierra Leone, was another
fighter in the same cause. He has a monument in “Whigs’ Corner,” under
the North-West Tower.
But the name chiefly remembered when we speak of the Anti-Slavery
Movement is that of William Wilberforce, who died in 1833, just before
the great Emancipation Day, the day which set the slaves free in all the
British dominions. Wilberforce’s monument is in the North Choir aisle,
and represents him sitting in a chair with his legs crossed, and in a
very odd posture altogether. He is buried in the North Transept.
Near Wilberforce’s monument is that of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, who had
also helped in the fight against the Slave Trade. Buxton had also done a
great work in the reform of our laws concerning the punishment of
criminals, and his labours were shared by Sir James Mackintosh, who has
a memorial bust in “Whigs’ Corner.”
Not far off is the monument to Sir Stamford Raffles, the first Governor
of the colony of Java, which we had conquered from the Dutch, and which
we afterwards gave back to them, much against Sir Stamford Raffles’s
advice. England owes her colony at Singapore to the influence of Sir
Stamford Raffles, and she also owes him her power in the Eastern Seas.
When he finally came home, Raffles founded the Zoological Society of
London, and was its first President. He ought to be remembered among the
men who helped to do away with slavery, as he himself set free all the
negroes who were under his authority. He died in 1826.
Two other monuments in “Whigs’ Corner” remind us of men who worked hard
for the abolition of the Slave Trade and for the change in our penal
laws. These are the monuments of Lord Holland and of the Marquis of
Lansdowne. Lord Holland was the nephew of Charles James Fox, whose
monument is close by. He died in 1840. Lord Lansdowne, who died in 1863,
had a long political career, which began in the days of Pitt.
[Illustration:
[_W. Rice, F.R.P.S._
CHARLES JAMES FOX.
]
Almost in the middle of the Nave lies the famous African explorer and
missionary, David Livingstone, who, although he belongs to a rather
later date, may well be remembered with the noble group of men who
fought against the Slave Trade. Livingstone died in Africa in 1873, and
his body was brought back to England by his faithful black servant,
Jacob Wainwight, who followed his coffin as it was carried up the Abbey,
and threw a palm branch into the open grave. On the tombstone are carved
the last words in Livingstone’s diary. They are as follows: “All I can
add in my solitude is, may Heaven’s rich blessing come down on every
one, American, English, or Turk, who will help to heal this open sore of
the world” (that is, the Slave Trade).
Another Parliamentary measure which was very important for England was
the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, and the introduction of Free Trade
a few years later. Two of the chief leaders of these movements have
memorials in the Abbey. One of them is Sir Robert Peel, whose statue
stands in a most conspicuous place just at the corner of the North
Transept and the North Ambulatory. The other is Richard Cobden, whose
bust is placed in the North Transept aisle.
We must now turn from home politics to more wars in various parts of the
world, wars which also have written some of their story on the Abbey
walls.
In 1854 the Crimean War, between Russia on one side and Turkey with her
English and French allies on the other, broke out. The real Westminster
memorial to the heroes of the Crimean War stands in Broad Sanctuary,
just outside the Abbey, and speaks to us of the Westminster scholars who
fell in the Crimea, the most famous of them being Lord Raglan. But there
are windows in the Abbey in memory of officers who served in this war,
as well as in the war in India which followed it. Some years before the
Crimean War there had been wars and disturbances in Afghanistan, in the
Punjaub, and in Burmah; and at last, in 1857, the terrible Indian Mutiny
broke out. The horrors of this time will probably never be forgotten
while English history lasts, and we need only speak of the massacre of
Cawnpore and the siege of Lucknow in order to bring the story of the
Mutiny back to every one’s mind.
There are many graves and monuments in the Abbey to tell us of the brave
men who saved our Indian Empire at that troubled time.
The first Afghan War is commemorated by the grave of Sir George Pollock,
who fought his way through the Khyber Pass to Cabul, after the terrible
slaughter of the British in 1842. Sir George Pollock was thanked by
Parliament for his services in that war. He died in 1872, and is buried
in the Nave.
In the North Transept is the bust of Sir Herbert Edwardes, who greatly
distinguished himself in the Sikh War, and quelled the outbreak at
Mooltan in 1848. He also did good service during the Mutiny. He died in
1868.
In the Nave are the graves of three of the great heroes of the Indian
Mutiny, namely, Sir Colin Campbell (afterwards Lord Clyde), Sir James
Outram, and John Laird Mair, Lord Lawrence.
Sir Colin Campbell joined the army when he was quite a boy, and fought
in the Peninsular War. He served under Sir John Moore in the advance to
Salamanca, and in the famous retreat to Corunna. Later on he fought in
the Sikh War, and then in the Crimean War. He was sent out to India to
help to crush the Mutiny, and the most celebrated thing he did was the
relief of Lucknow, thus putting an end to that terrible siege. He died
in 1863.
Sir James Outram’s grave is close by, and all English boys and girls
should look at his monument, where they will see a representation of the
great scene at Lucknow, when Sir Colin Campbell relieved the town and
met the gallant defenders, Outram and Havelock. Outram died in 1863.
The name of Sir Henry Lawrence ought also to be remembered when we speak
of Lucknow, although his body does not rest in the Abbey. He did much to
save Lucknow in the time of the siege, and he was killed on the ramparts
only a short time before Sir Colin Campbell arrived with his
Highlanders.
The grave of his brother, John, Lord Lawrence, reminds us of a great and
good man who served his country well in India. Although he was a
civilian and not a soldier by profession, he had great military ability,
and it was he who really saved the Punjaub at the time of the Mutiny. He
succeeded Lord Elgin as Viceroy of India in 1863, and died in 1879. On
his tombstone are words which we all might pray to deserve: “He feared
man so little because he feared God so much.”
There is a fine bust of Lord Lawrence against the south wall of the
Nave, not far from where he is buried.
In the North Transept are windows in memory of seven officers who were
killed in the Indian Mutiny. These are Sir Henry Barnard, K.C.B.,
Lieutenant-Colonel Woodford, Lovick Cooper, a young ensign, Captain
Thynne, Ensign Bankes, Captain Moorsom, and Lieutenant-Colonel Adrian
Hope.
Four of these officers had also fought in the Crimean War in 1854–56,
and had distinguished themselves by their services at that time.
Colonel Adrian Hope had also fought in the Kaffir War, and thus his name
brings the remembrance of South Africa into the Abbey, long before the
memorial was put up to those who fell in the last Boer War.
There is a window in the North Transept to the memory of officers who
were lost in the _Captain_, which foundered off Cape Finisterre on 7th
September 1870, five days after that great Battle of Sedan which ended
the terrible war between France and Germany.
In St. Andrew’s Chapel there is also a window to the memory of those
that fell in action and died from the effects of wounds or climate
during the Ashanti War in 1873.
A bronze bust in the North-West Tower reminds us of another soldier hero
of our time, Charles George Gordon, remembered chiefly for his work in
China, in Egypt, and in the Soudan. The story of Gordon’s death at
Khartoum in 1885 will never be forgotten. His name and noble character
are always kept fresh in our memory by the Gordon Boys’ Home, which does
such excellent work in training boys for the army.
South Africa has one direct memorial at Westminster, for in the North
Cloister there is a tablet in memory of the men of the Queen’s
Westminster Volunteer Corps who fell in the Boer War of 1899–1902. The
tablet was put up in 1901, and was unveiled by the Secretary of State
for War.
We are reminded of an earlier time in the history of the Volunteers by
the monument of George Herries, the first Colonel of the London and
Westminster Light Horse Volunteers, of which he was described as the
“father.” George Herries was a well-known merchant. He died in 1819, and
was buried in the Abbey with military honours. His monument is in the
Nave.
We must now look back over the nineteenth century, as we did over the
eighteenth, and call to mind many other great men whose graves and
monuments we find in the Abbey,—statesmen, writers, and men of science.
As we have been speaking of the political history of England, let us
begin with some of the great statesmen.
Lord Chatham, as we have seen, belonged to the eighteenth century. The
younger William Pitt, and his great political rival, Charles James Fox,
died quite early in the nineteenth century, and their graves and
monuments have already been described.
As we enter by the great North Door we see on our left a striking group
of three statues. These represent (1) George Canning, the great
statesman and orator, who died in 1827; (2) his son, Charles, Earl
Canning, Viceroy of India; and (3) their cousin, Stratford Canning,
Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe, who was for fifty years our Ambassador
in the East.
[Illustration:
[_D. Weller_.
STATESMEN’S CORNER, EASTERN AISLE.
]
Among other things, George Canning was closely connected with that
important political change of the last century, which is known as the
Roman Catholic Emancipation Bill. This was the measure which allowed
Roman Catholics to be members of Parliament, and removed other
disabilities under which they had suffered. The measure did not actually
become law until after Canning’s death.
Earl Canning was Governor-General of India during the Mutiny, and became
the first Viceroy. His name is always to be remembered with those of
Clyde, John and Henry Lawrence, and the other great men of the Mutiny
time. Lord Canning died in 1862. The Cannings are buried in the North
Transept, in a vault near that of the Pitt family.
Close by is the grave of Henry Grattan, who died in 1820, the great
defender of the rights of Ireland.
On the opposite side of the Transept to the Cannings is the statute of
George Canning’s chief political rival, Lord Castlereagh, afterwards
Marquis of Londonderry, who died in 1822. Lord Castlereagh was Foreign
Secretary, and attended the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818. He
helped greatly to make peace in Europe after all the fights with
Napoleon. He unfortunately became very unpopular later, partly because
of the heavy taxes the people had to pay after the French wars, and
partly because he thought the Press had too much liberty and he tried to
curtail that liberty. There was a terrible riot at his funeral, and the
mourners had to fight their way through an angry mob.
Close to Castlereagh’s statue is that of Lord Palmerston, who was twice
Prime Minister in Queen Victoria’s reign, after being Secretary of State
for War for twenty years. Lord Palmerston was Prime Minister during the
Crimean War and at the time when the Indian Mutiny began. He was given a
public funeral, and is buried in the North Transept. His wife is buried
with him.
On the side opposite to Castlereagh and Palmerston is the statue of
Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Lord Beaconsfield is remembered
as a famous leader of the Conservative party in Parliament, and as a man
who did much for the growth of the British Empire. It was at his
suggestion that the late Queen took the title of Empress of India, and
to him we owe much of our present position in Egypt. Lord Beaconsfield
was also a well-known writer of novels. His most famous books are
perhaps _Lothair_, _Sybil_, and _Coningsby_. Lord Beaconsfield died in
1881, and is buried at Hughenden in Buckinghamshire.
William Ewart Gladstone, the great Liberal leader, and Lord
Beaconsfield’s chief political opponent, is buried in the North
Transept, and his statue stands next to that of Disraeli. Mr. Gladstone
was four times Prime Minister. The Bill for the Disestablishment of the
Irish Church was passed when he was in power in 1871. Gladstone was not
only eminent in politics, but he exercised a considerable literary,
social, and moral influence over many of his fellow-countrymen.
Gladstone died in 1898.
In the year 1870 the Education Bill was passed, a Bill which has made a
great difference to all English people, as everybody now has the
opportunity of going to school and of having a good and useful teaching,
not only in reading and writing, but in many other things as well. The
scheme for this new plan of education was made by William Edward
Forster, who is commemorated in the Abbey by a medallion which is placed
above the monument of his uncle, Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, in the North
Choir aisle.
The grave and monument of Sir Rowland Hill in St. Paul’s Chapel remind
us of another important change which took place in 1839, namely, the
introduction of the penny postage and the invention of adhesive postage
stamps.
Another monument, a very beautiful and interesting one, is that erected
to the memory of Henry Fawcett, the blind Postmaster-General, who
accomplished so much good work in spite of the terrible disadvantage of
his blindness, which was the result of an accident when he was quite
young. This always seems to be a monument to undaunted courage and
perseverance in the face of great misfortune, and it should teach us to
be brave and patient, however much things may seem to be against us.
It is now time to speak of the chief authors of the century, and to turn
our thoughts once more to Poets’ Corner.
Here, next to Dr. Johnson, we find the grave of the brilliant
play-writer and parliamentary orator, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the
author of the _Rivals_ and _The School for Scandal_. Sheridan died in
1816, the year after the Battle of Waterloo.
Against the wall, close to the door of St. Faith’s Chapel, is the bust
of the great novelist, Sir Walter Scott, who died in 1832. His _Waverley
Novels_ are too famous to need any description. We need only speak of
_Ivanhoe_, _Quentin Durward_, _The Antiquary_, and _Kenilworth_, in
order to remind English people of all ages of many hours of interest and
delight. The particular position was expressly chosen for the bust of
Sir Walter Scott, because it is close to the monument of the Duke of
Argyll and Greenwich, the same Duke of Argyll who appears in Scott’s
famous story, _The Heart of Midlothian_. The bust was placed in the
Abbey only a few years ago; it is a copy of the bust by Chantrey at
Abbotsford.
Above Shakspeare’s monument are busts of two celebrated poets of the
early part of the nineteenth century—Samuel Taylor Coleridge, author of
“The Ancient Mariner,” “Christabel,” and other well-known poems, and
Robert Southey, Poet-Laureate, author of “Thalaba,” “The Curse of
Kehama,” and the poem on the Waterfall at Lodore. Coleridge died in
1834, and Southey in 1843, in the reign of Queen Victoria. Neither
Coleridge nor Southey is buried in the Abbey. Southey was one of the
famous group of “Lake poets,” and is buried in the lake country, at
Crosthwaite, near Keswick.
Close by Shakspeare’s monument is the statue of Thomas Campbell, who
wrote “The Pleasures of Hope,” “The Battle of the Baltic,” “Ye Mariners
of England,” and other poems.
Under the South-West Tower, in the former Baptistery, is the monument of
the great poet, William Wordsworth, who lived through the time of the
French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, and died in 1850. He was the
chief of the “Lake poets.” Wordsworth is not buried in the Abbey, but in
Grasmere churchyard, in that English lake-country where he was born and
which he loved so dearly. Wordsworth’s chief poems are “The Excursion,”
“The White Doe of Rylstone,” “Tintern Abbey,” the “Ode on Immortality,”
and the “Ode to Duty.” But there are many others, great and small, which
are part of the heritage he has left to his fellow-countrymen.
In the Baptistery, just opposite Wordsworth’s monument, is a memorial
portrait bust of Charles Kingsley, the great preacher and writer, author
of _Alton Locke_, _Westward Ho!_, _Hypatia_, and of many well-known
poems. Charles Kingsley is remembered with especial interest and
affection at the Abbey, as he was Canon of Westminster for two years. He
died in 1875, and is buried at Eversley, in Hampshire, where he was
rector for so long.
Next to Kingsley is a bust of Matthew Arnold, the poet, essayist, and
critic. Next to him again is a bust of Frederick Denison Maurice, a
great religious teacher of the nineteenth century. Opposite to these,
and next to Wordsworth, is the monument to John Keble, author of _The
Christian Year_. Next to that is the monument of the famous Dr. Thomas
Arnold, who was headmaster of Rugby, and who did much to improve the
whole life in the public schools of England. Matthew Arnold, of whom we
have just heard, was his son.
In Poets’ Corner, close to the grave of Chaucer, lie two other famous
poets of the Victorian age, Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning.
Tennyson will always be remembered as the poet of _In Memoriam_ and _The
Idylls of the King_, and also of many splendid patriotic poems which all
English boys and girls ought to know. He died in 1892, and when his
grave was being dug in Poets’ Corner a skull and leg-bone were found,
which were evidently those of Geoffrey Chaucer, who had been buried here
nearly five hundred years before. By Tennyson’s own wish the Union Jack
was wrapped round his coffin and buried with him. A fine bust of
Tennyson has been placed against a pillar near his grave.
Robert Browning, author of _The Ring and the Book_, _Pippa Passes_, _By
the Fireside_, and many other famous poems, died at Venice in 1889. His
body was brought back to be buried in the Abbey. His wife, Elizabeth
Barrett Browning, well known as a poetess, is buried in Florence.
Near Chaucer’s monument is a bust of the American poet, Longfellow, who
died in 1882. Some of his poems are familiar to most English children.
Charles Dickens, the great novelist, is buried in Poets’ Corner, just
under Handel’s monument and close to Handel’s grave. Dickens will always
be remembered as the author of _David Copperfield_, _The Old Curiosity
Shop_, _Christmas Stories_, and many other books which are dear to the
hearts of all English people.
Against the wall, on either side of Addison’s statue, are the busts of
two other great writers of the last century,—Lord Macaulay, the poet and
historian, and William Makepeace Thackeray, the famous novelist. Lord
Macaulay, who died in 1859, was the son of Zachary Macaulay, of whom we
have already heard in connection with the abolition of the slave-trade.
Among Lord Macaulay’s best known writings are the _Lays of Ancient
Rome_. His grave is close by Addison’s statue. Thackeray, who wrote
_Esmond_, _The Newcomes_, _Vanity Fair_, and many other celebrated
books, is not buried in the Abbey, but at Kensal Green. He died in 1863.
Nearer to the Choir aisle are the busts of the two great historians of
Greece, Bishop Thirlwall and George Grote, who are buried in the same
grave. They both died in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Just above the bust of Sir Walter Scott is a bronze medallion with a
portrait head of John Ruskin, author of _The Stones of Venice_, _Modern
Painters_, _Sesame and Lilies_, and many other well-known works on art
and life.
In St. Edmund’s Chapel is the grave of Edward Bulwer Lytton, Lord
Lytton, author of many widely read novels and historical romances. Among
his best known books are _The Last Days of Pompeii_, _The Caxtons_,
_Rienzi_, and _Kenelm Chillingly_. He died in 1873.
Several of the great actors of the nineteenth century are commemorated
in the Abbey. Such are Mrs. Siddons, and her brother, John Philip
Kemble, whose statues are in St. Andrew’s Chapel. Sir Henry Irving, the
well-known actor of Shakspeare’s plays, as well as of many others, died
in 1905, and is buried at the foot of Shakspeare’s monument, close to
the grave of his great brother-actor, David Garrick.
In the Musicians’ Aisle is the grave of Sir William Sterndale Bennett,
one of the chief English composers of his time. He died in 1875. In the
same aisle is a medallion in memory of Michael Balfe, who composed _The
Bohemian Girl_, and a window to James Turle, who was organist of the
Abbey for fifty-six years. In St. Andrew’s Chapel is a window in memory
of Vincent Novello, founder of the famous house of music publishers of
that name.
[Illustration:
[_D. Weller_.
GRAVES OF NEWTON, HERSCHEL, DARWIN, AND KELVIN.
]
The great and especial glory of the nineteenth century was the wonderful
development of almost every kind of scientific knowledge and work, and
the number of important scientific discoveries that were made. It is not
too much to say that some of these discoveries, and some of the new
theories about our world and the things in and around it, have
influenced and changed our lives and our thoughts very much indeed. We
can see this very plainly if we think of what Darwin has taught us, and
if we think of the invention of the steam-engine, the introduction of
railway travelling, and of steamships, of land and ocean telegraphy,
telephones, motors, wireless telegraphy, and now of airships. This
extraordinary progress in scientific research and knowledge is not
without its record in the Abbey, as we shall see. We shall find that
many of the great men of science who lived in the nineteenth century are
either buried or commemorated in the Abbey.
Foremost among these is Charles Robert Darwin, the biologist of
world-wide fame, author of _The Origin of Species_, _The Descent of
Man_, and other celebrated scientific works. Darwin died in 1882, and is
buried in the north aisle of the Nave, quite near the grave of Sir Isaac
Newton.
Next to Darwin lies the famous astronomer, Sir John Frederick Herschel,
who died in 1871. Another astronomer, John Couch Adams, discoverer of
the planet Neptune, has a memorial in this same north aisle. Close by
are memorials to James Prescott Joule, who discovered certain laws
connected with heat and electricity, and to Sir George Gabriel Stokes.
A little farther down the aisle is the grave of the great geologist, Sir
Charles Lyell, who died in 1875. His bust is placed near the tablet in
memory of Dr. John Woodward, who lived in the eighteenth century, and
who has been called the “father of English Geology.”
On the other side of the Nave is a memorial to William Buckland, Dean of
Westminster, who was twice President of the Geological Society, and
wrote many books about geology. In the South Transept, near the monument
of Dr. Busby, is the grave of William Spottiswoode, who was President of
the Royal Society and Printer to Queen Victoria. He died in 1883.
One of the most famous men of science of our own day, William Thomson,
Lord Kelvin, rests close to Newton. He was born in 1824, and died in
1907, and devoted his long life to the pursuit of science,—to what is
called “applied science” as well as to speculative science. We owe to
Lord Kelvin many of the wonderful inventions now in quite common use,—in
navigation, in telegraphing under the ocean, and in other ways.
One of the most important changes in the life of the whole nation was
brought about in the nineteenth century by the introduction of railway
travelling. Those of us who are quite young, and have hardly ever heard
of a time when there were no railways, cannot realise or understand how
great this change must be.
Even railways have their memorials in the Abbey, for in the Nave we find
the grave of Robert Stephenson, who died in 1859, engineer of the
Birmingham Railway and of the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits.
He is buried next to the famous engineer, Thomas Telford, who died in
1834, and whose chief works were the Caledonian Canal, the Menai Bridge,
and the plan for the inland navigation of Sweden. There is a large
statue of Telford in St. Andrew’s Chapel. Not far from the grave of
Robert Stephenson is a window in his memory. It is not at all beautiful,
as it represents railway bridges and other things which do not look well
in a stained-glass window,—but it is certainly interesting.
Near this are windows in memory of the great engineers (1) Richard
Trevithick, who died in 1833, the inventor of the high-pressure
steam-engine, and of the first real railway engine; (2) Brunel, who died
in 1859, and who built the largest steamships known in his time, the
_Great Eastern_ and the _Great Western_; and (3) John Locke, who died in
1860, and who designed the “Crewe Engine.”
Close to these a beautiful new window has been erected to the memory of
Sir Benjamin Baker, who died in 1907. He was the engineer of the Forth
Bridge, the Assouan Dam, and other important works. In the window are
full-length figures of Edward III and of Cardinal Langham, once Abbot of
Westminster.
Near the graves of Stephenson and Telford are buried four distinguished
architects of the nineteenth century. These are:—
(1) Sir Charles Barry, who built the present Houses of Parliament, and
who died in 1860.
(2) Sir Gilbert Scott, who died in 1878. He was one of the leaders in
the revival of Gothic architecture in England.
(3) George Edmund Street, who died in 1881. A distinguished architect in
the Gothic style. He designed the present Law Courts.
(4) John Loughborough Pearson, who died in 1897.
Sir Gilbert Scott and Mr. Pearson were both of them “Surveyors of the
Fabric” to the Abbey. This means that they had charge of the actual
building from the architectural point of view.
In the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist is a memorial to the great
Arctic explorer, Sir John Franklin, who was lost in 1847, with both his
crews, while making the discovery of the North-West Passage. The
monument was put up by Lady Franklin. On it is a representation of the
vessel fast in the Polar ice, and round the sculptured scene are the
words—
“O ye ice and snow, O ye frost and cold, bless ye the Lord; Praise him
and magnify Him for ever.”
Below are Tennyson’s beautiful lines—
“Not here: the White North has thy bones; and thou
Heroic sailor soul,
Art passing on thy happier voyage now
Towards no earthly pole.”
Close by is the memorial to another Arctic explorer, Admiral Sir Leopold
M‘Clintock, who died in 1907. It was he who discovered the remains of
Franklin’s ships, and thus found out how he had died.
Before ending this long list of people who are gathered into remembrance
in the Abbey, we must not forget the names of some of those who have
served their fellow-men by special works of love and kindness.
Close to the great West Door is a fine statue of Anthony Ashley Cooper,
Earl of Shaftesbury, who did a great deal to make the lives of poor
children healthier, happier, and better, and to whom England owes many
improvements in the laws about work in factories and mines.
Lord Shaftesbury is remembered in Westminster as President of the
Westminster Window Garden show, a flower show which was intended to
encourage poor people to grow nice flowers in their windows, and so to
brighten the dulness and ugliness of town streets, as well as to teach
them something about Nature. Lord Shaftesbury used to come every year to
give the prizes at this show, which used to be held in Dean’s Yard.
Lord Shaftesbury also took great interest in George Peabody’s scheme for
improving the dwellings of the poor, and tried all he could to help on
this good work. He died in 1883.
George Peabody, who gave such generous help towards building better
houses for the poor, was an American. He died in London in 1869, and his
body rested for a short time in the Abbey, close to the place where Lord
Shaftesbury’s statue now stands.
Quite near this spot also is the grave of Baroness Burdett-Coutts, who
died in 1907, and whose name will long be remembered for her works of
charity.