James Callaghan

On 7th July 2015 a memorial stone for James Callaghan, former Labour Prime Minister, was unveiled in the north aisle of the nave of Westminster Abbey near memorials to Harold Wilson and other Prime Ministers. The slate stone was designed by Nicholas Sloan and reads: 

1912 

James

Callaghan

Prime Minister 

1976-1979

2005

Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff K.G. was born in Portsmouth on 27th March 1912, the son of James, who was of Irish descent and a sailor in the Royal Navy, and his wife Charlotte (nee Cundy). His sister was Dorothy. After working for the Inland Revenue he became a trade unionist and after war service in the Royal Navy he became a politician. In 1938 he married Audrey Moulton (1913-2005) and their children were Margaret (later Baroness Jay of Paddington), Julia and Michael. As a Labour M.P. he rose to be Chancellor of the Exchequer 1964-1967 under Harold Wilson, Home Secretary 1967-1970, Foreign Secretary 1974-1976 and Prime Minister when Wilson resigned. He died not long after his wife on 26th March 2005 and a memorial service for both of them was held in the Abbey on 28th July 2005. His ashes are apparently scattered around the Peter Pan statue at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

Further reading

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography