John and Edward Tufnell

John Tufnell and his son Edward were both master masons at Westminster Abbey and are buried in the south cloister.

Edward Tufnell

Edward's monument on the wall, possibly by sculptor Edward Stanton, includes a bust. The Latin inscription can be translated:

Sacred to the memory of Edward Tufnell, architect, who in great measure rebuilt and embellished the southern and eastern sides of this most venerable building, and thereby raised for himself a more enduring monument than this small tablet which his sons have placed here as an act of piety. He died 2nd September AD 1719, aged 41

He worked under Sir Christopher Wren, who was Surveyor of the Fabric of the Abbey. His gravestone inscription reads:

Here lyeth the body of Capt. Edward Tufnell Master Mason of this Collegiate Church two and twenty years. He died Sept. ye 2nd 1719 aged 41 years. Here lyes the body of Mr Edward Tufnell, son of Capt. Edward Tufnell. He departed this life January 9 1736/7 in ye 30th year of his age. Sacred to the memory of Elizabeth Tufnell who died 26 January 1815.

The Elizabeth mentioned on the stone was a daughter of Edward's brother Samuel and she died aged 82.

Edward was baptised at St Margaret's Westminster on 21st February 1678 and married Anne Browne in the Abbey on 27th October 1697. Ten of their children were baptised at St Margaret's and eight buried in the Abbey. After Edward's death Anne re-married Thomas Mytton.

John Tufnell

His father John was probably a son of Edward Tufnell and Catherine Moorecocke who were married in 1638 at St Martin in the Fields church in London. He married Dorothy Smythe in St Margaret's on 19th January 1673. John died on 18th February 1697 and his wife was buried on 20th October 1720 in the cloister as Dorothy Noble with their daughter Grace, wife of John Kirpatrick, who died in 1707. Two other of their children were buried in the Abbey - John Tufnell was a joiner here and died 26th March 1723 aged 42 and William died 9th December 1733. William was a master-builder to the New River Company and a burgess of the City of Westminster. His wife Elizabeth (Browne) was buried on 11th October 1720.