History

Charles St Clare Bedford, Chapter Clerk at Westminster Abbey 1854-1900 and Coroner for the City of Westminster 1845-88, is buried in the north cloister of the Abbey. He was a son of George Bedford and his wife Judith (Thompson). He married firstly in 1850 Mary, daughter of George Giles Vincent, chapter clerk of the Abbey, and had three daughters - Emmeline, Georgina and Mary, who married John Lydekker in the Abbey in 1881.- and secondly in 1861 Harriet Broughton. Their child Emma was baptised in the Abbey in 1866. The inscription on the stone reads:

"Charles St Clare Bedford, born April 1 1810, died June 5 1900, 46 years Chapter Clerk and Registrar of this Collegiate Church, 49 years Steward of the Manors, 43 years Coroner for Westminster. Father in thy gracious keeping, leave we now thy servant sleeping"

A copy of the photo can be purchased from Westminster Abbey Library.

The coroners inquests for his period, up to 1880 only, are kept in the Abbey archives.