The Children's Story of Westminster Abbey

by G. E. Troutbeck

[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.