The Children's Story of Westminster Abbey

by G. E. Troutbeck

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.