In the next arch has been lately erected a tablet, sacred to the memory of Walter Hawkes, who, serving in the East Indies, and having deserved well during the space of more than twenty-seven years, almost worn out with sickness and wounds, as he was now returning to his native country, being overtaken by a storm in the Indian Ocean, was, together with his dearest wife, the partner of his life and danger, alas! swallowed up, and perished by shipwreck, never to be too much lamented, the year of our Lord 1808. Struck with so sad a fate of his companion, William Franklin put up this stone; for both were King’s scholars in this school, brought up in the same studies, together endured arduous warfare.
NORTH WALK.
On the left, near the door, is a marble slab to the memory of John Catling, who died March 3, 1826, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. He was Verger and Sacrist, successively, of this Collegiate Church under five Deans, the duties of which he performed with the most zealous and undivided attention, for the long period of fifty-two years, respected by his superiors for the fidelity, respectability, and humility, with which he filled the offices, and beloved by all who knew him in private life, for the many virtues which adorn the man. Lady Londonderry was buried underneath it.
A tablet to the memory of Harriet, wife of the Rev. John Bentall, one of the Ushers of Westminster School. She died August 7, 1838.
The next is an epitaph remarkable for its quaintness, and inscribed to the memory of William Laurence, in these lines:—
“With diligence and truth most exemplary,
Did William Laurence serve a Prebendary;
And for his pains, now past, before not lost,
Gain’d this remembrance at his master’s cost.
Oh! read these lines again!—you seldom find
A servant faithful, and a master kind.
Short-hand he wrote; his flower in prime did fade,
And hasty death short-hand of him hath made.
Well couth he numbers, and well-measured land;
Thus doth he now that ground whereon you stand,
Wherein he lies so geometrical:
Art maketh some, but thus doth nature all.”
Ob. Dec. 28, 1628, Ætat. 29.
A tablet to the Rev. George Preston, A.M., who was several years Under-Master of Westminster School. He died September 8, 1841, aged fifty-two.
Near to this is a tablet lately erected to the memory of William Markham, D.D., Archbishop of York, who died November, 1807, aged eighty-eight, and was buried near this spot.
On your left is a tablet to the memory of Edward Augustus Webber, a King’s scholar, son of James Webber, D.D., Dean of Ripon, and Canon of this Church; who was drowned in the River Thames, June 11, 1833, aged seventeen, and buried near this spot. The inscription is as follows:—“H.S.M. Edoardus Augustus Webber, Jacobi Webber, S.T.P., ecclesæ Riponensis Decani, et hujusce Præbendarii filius natu secundus in amne Thamesi, eversa turbine navicula e quatuor mersis adolicentibus unus periit die 11 Junii, 1833, anum agent 17mo. Alumno suavissimo desideratissimo, id quod parentes miseri perferre nequibant, præceptores condiscipulique tranquam fratrem lugertes ademptum pro more ac pietate Westmonasteriensi exequias reddiderunt.”
The last worthy of note in this Walk is that to the memory of William Egerton Gell, Esq., who, after a long and severe affliction, departed this life on the 17th of May, 1838, aged fifty-six years; in him many will have to deplore the loss of a generous and kind-hearted friend. “Comfort the soul of thy servant, for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.”—Cundy, sculptor.