In the south aisle of the Nave of the Abbey is a monument to two friends,
Charles Harbord and Clement Cottrell (or Cotterell). They both died on
28 May 1672 in a naval engagement against the Dutch fleet in Southwold
Bay, Suffolk, and are buried at sea. The monument was erected by Harbord's
father. The part of the inscription concerning Clement reads (in standardised
English):
"Clement Cottrell Esqr. eldest son of Sir Charles Cottrell, Knight,
Master of the Ceremonies, and his assistant to have succeeded in that
office, for which he was very fit, having a tall handsome person, a graceful
winning behaviour, and great natural parts, much improved by study and
by converse in most courts of Europe, where firm to the Church of England,
he learned not their vices but customs and languages, understanding seven
and speaking four of them as his own though but XXII years old; yet not
content to serve his King and country at home only, his excess of courage,
incited by a deep sense of honour, could not be kept from going Volunteer
with the Earl of Sandwich with whom he had been in Spain when his Excellency
was there [as] Ambassador Extraordinary, and with whom (after having returned
unwounded into his ship, from being the first man that had boarded a Dutch
one of LX guns and pulled down the ensign of it with his own hand) he
also perished, universally lamented".
Their ship was the "Royal James" and a bas-relief on the monument depicts
the last moments of the battle. The carved arms of Cottrell also appear
(a bend between three escallops (or shells), a label of three points for
difference). The family arms had been granted to Clement's grandfather,
Sir Clement Cottrell of the county of Lincolnshire, who was a groom-porter
to King James I. His father, Sir Charles (1615-1701), was Master of the
Ceremonies to the Crown and a Member of Parliament who lived in Westminster.
Clement was unmarried and his brother Sir Charles Lodowick Cottrell (d.1710)
succeeded to his father's office.
A photograph of the memorial can be purchased from Westminster Abbey
Library. Some further information on Sir Charles Cotterell and Sir Charles
Lodowick Cotterell can be found in "The Dictionary of National Biography".