Sir Robert Moray

Sir Robert Moray (or Murray), mathematician, chemist and a founder and first President of the Royal Society, was buried in the centre part of the south transept of the Abbey on 6th July 1673. His grave was unmarked but in the 19th century Dean Stanley had his name, date of death and the words "First President of the Royal Society" inscribed on a large black marble stone in front of Geoffrey Chaucer's monument (together with the names of various other persons buried in this area who had no gravestones). By 1993 the inscriptions were very faint and the stone was re-cut. However only the words "Sir Robert Moray" were re-incised.

Robert was a son of Sir Mungo Moray of Craigie in Perthshire and was born about 1608 or 1609. He fought abroad and for the King in the English Civil War, becoming a colonel of the Scots guards, and was knighted by Charles I at Oxford. After spending some years on the continent he returned to England after the Restoration and was a favourite at the court of Charles II. He was Deputy Secretary for Scotland 1663-1670.  He married the Honorable Sophia Lindsay (d.1653) but had no children and he died at his London house on 4th July 1673. The King ordered his burial in the Abbey and paid the expenses of his funeral.

John Evelyn, the diarist, recorded:

This evening I went to the funeral of my dear and excellent friend, that good man and accomplished gentleman, Sir Robert Murray, Secretary of Scotland.

The historian Gilbert Burnet wrote of him:

He was universally beloved and esteemed by men of all sides and sorts. The life and soul of the Royal Society.

Further reading

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Royal Society website