The Children's Story of Westminster AbbeyTroutbeck, G. E. (Georgina E.)
History
The Children's Story of Westminster Abbey
Troutbeck, G. E. (Georgina E.)
Westminster Abbey
One of these is the monument to Edward Montague, Earl of Sandwich, who
took such a great part in the victory over De Ruyter off Sole Bay in
1672. Lord Sandwich’s ship was somehow set on fire; it blew up, and he
perished with it. He was buried in General Monck’s vault in Henry VII’s
Chapel. Two young lieutenants, Sir Charles Harbord and Clement Cottrell,
who died with Lord Sandwich, are commemorated in the Nave.
Another distinguished sailor, Sir Freschville Holles, was also killed in
the engagement off Sole Bay, and is buried in St. Edmund’s Chapel. Sir
Freschville Holles had been knighted by Charles II after the naval
victory over the Dutch off Lowestoft in 1665. Five other officers, who
were all killed in this battle off Lowestoft, are buried in the North
Ambulatory.
Admiral Sir Edward Spragge and a young lieutenant called Richard Le
Neve, who were killed in a sea-fight with Van Tromp in the year 1673,
are also buried in the Abbey.
Another name we ought to remember is that of Sir Palmes Fairborne,
Governor of Tangier, who was killed when defending Tangier against the
Moors in 1680. His monument is in the Nave, and reminds us that Tangier
once belonged to England, having been part of the dowry of Catherine of
Braganza, wife of Charles II. Sir Palmes Fairborne was buried at
Tangier.
The Battle of the Boyne in the reign of William III is brought to our
minds when we look at the monument of General Philipps in the North
Transept. General Philipps fought on William III’s side in that battle.
He lived to a great age, and was Governor of Nova Scotia from 1720 to
1740.
In the Nave there is a monument to Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy, who
distinguished himself in the naval war of Queen Anne’s reign, and fought
under Admiral Rooke at Cadiz in 1702. Sir Thomas Hardy did not die until
1732, but he really belongs to these later Stuart times. The taking of
Gibraltar in 1704 is recalled to our minds later on by the memorials to
Richard Kane and Coote Manningham. Kane held Gibraltar for eight months
against the Spaniards in George I’s reign.
We must now turn to some of the graves and monuments connected with the
great French war of Queen Anne’s reign—the War of the Spanish
Succession, as it was called.
The body of the great Duke of Marlborough, the victorious General at the
Battles of Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet, was buried in
the Abbey in 1722, and removed to the Chapel at Blenheim Palace
twenty-four years afterwards. The Duke’s first grave was in Henry VII’s
Chapel, in the vault where Cromwell, Ireton, Bradshaw, and others had
lain.
In the Nave are monuments to General Killigrew, who was killed at the
Battle of Almanza in 1707, to Colonel Bringfield, who was killed at
Ramillies in 1706, and to Major Creed, who was killed at Blenheim in
1704.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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