Killigrew Family

In the north aisle of the nave of Westminster Abbey is a white marble monument to the memory of Robert Killigrew baptised on 4th July 1660, and possibly born in Maestricht, Holland, who died in Spain and is buried there.

It is a tablet in the form of a shield, backed by a profusion of military trophies including swords and firearms, with a coat of arms at the base. The sculptor was Francis Bird and the memorial, said by several authors to be cut from a single piece of marble, was put up by Robert's elder brother Charles (1655-1725), the famous theatre manager. The inscription reads:

P.M. [in pious memory of] ROBERT KILLIGREW of Arwenak in the county of Cornwall Esquire, son of THOMAS and CHARLOTTE. Page of Honour to King Charles the Second. Brigadier General of her Majesty's Forces. Killed in Spain in the battle of Almanza the 14th day of April Ano.Dni. 1707. Aetatis Suae [aged] 47. Militavit annis 24 [24 years of military service]

On the ledge at the base is a Latin inscription which can be translated:

Placed by his sorrowing brother.

The coat of arms is "argent within a bordure sable bezanty, an eagle displayed with two heads of the second, armed or" (a silver shield with a border and a black two-headed eagle)

The Killigrew family had been based in Cornwall since the mid 13th century, the family seat at Arwenack being established in 1385.

Thomas Killigrew and his sisters

Robert's father Thomas (1612-1683) was a son of Sir Robert Killigrew (1579-1633), vice chamberlain to Henrietta Maria, queen to Charles I, and Mary (Woodhouse) his wife. He was born in 1612 in London and became a dramatist, theatre manager, a notorious groom of the bedchamber, and master of the revels at Court. He was the brother of Sir William Killigrew and Henry Killigrew.

His first wife was Cecilia Crofts, daughter of Sir John Crofts of Saxham in Suffolk, maid of honour to Queen Henrietta Maria, whom he married at Oatlands in Surrey on 29th June 1636. She was buried in the Abbey on 5th January 1638. Their son Henry was baptised at St Martin in the Fields in London on 16th April 1637 and was buried there on 16th December 1705, having also been a groom of the bedchamber.

Thomas met his second wife Charlotte (born 1629), daughter of Johan van Hesse, in Holland while in exile with Charles II. They married at The Hague in 1655 and their children were Roger, Robert and Elizabeth. She became keeper of the sweet coffers to Catherine of Braganza, queen of Charles II. 

Thomas died in Whitehall on 15th March and was buried in the south transept of the Abbey on 18th March 1683. He has no monument or gravestone.

Three of Thomas's sisters are also buried in the Abbey. Anne, born in 1607, dresser to the queen and wife of George Kirke, was drowned in the Thames near London Bridge and buried near the font in the church on 9th July 1641. Mary wife of Sir John James, was buried on 10th November 1677 and has a monument in the north choir aisle. And Elizabeth born in 1622 who married at Whitehall in 1638 Francis Boyle who was later created Viscount Shannon. She was buried on 4th January 1681 as Vicountess Shannon (location in the Abbey not given in the register).

Reverend Dr Henry Killigrew

He was born on 11th February 1613 at Hanworth, the fifth son of Sir Robert and Mary, and was educated at Oxford. In 1642 he became a Canon of Westminster, and again after the Restoration from 1660 until his death. He was brother of Thomas and Sir William Killigrew, both dramatists.

He presented the black and white marble pavement in the Abbey's Lady Chapel. A small brass on the north, near Henry VII's tomb grille, records his gift and the Latin can be translated:

Henry Killigrew S.T.P. [professor of sacred theology] Prebendary of this College gave this marble pavement. Died March 14 1699

The date of his death in modern dating is 1700. A later copy of this inscription on the south side gives a wrong date for the presentation.

He was a chaplain in the King's army during the Civil War and was in Oxford until 1645. When Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660 Henry became rector of Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire and chaplain and later almoner to James, Duke of York. In 1663 he was made Master of the Savoy [Hospital] in London and was buried there with his wife Judith, a musician and lady in waiting to Catherine of Braganza, who had died in 1682/83. 

Their daughter Anne, who died of smallpox in 1685, was a poet and painter, son Henry was an Admiral and Member of Parliament, son James was killed in 1695 serving in the navy and was buried in Messina, and daughter Elizabeth married the Reverend John Lambe.

Sir William Killigrew

He was buried in the north ambulatory ("north aisle of the monuments") on 17th July 1665 but he has no marker or monument. Most of the Court was absent from London at the time of his funeral due to the plague and only a few clergy were present. He was the sixth son of John Killigrew, Lord of Arwenack (or Arwenick) and his wife Dorothy (daughter of Thomas Monck of Potheridge in Devon) and was born in 1600. He appears to have been knighted abroad and was created a Baronet in 1660, with remainder to his nephew Peter, son of his brother Sir Peter Killigrew. He was a great soldier, Colonel of a regiment in Holland and served the King of Denmark. He died unmarried.

Further reading:

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

There is a portrait of Thomas by Sir Anthony van Dyck in the Royal Collection.

There are engravings of Cecilia Killigrew and Anne Kirke in the Abbey collection.