History

Abbots & Deans

List of Abbots of the monastery and Deans of the Collegiate Church.

Abbots

Edwin 1049-1071
1071?-1075?
Vitalis of Bernay 1076?-1085
Gilbert Crispin 1085-1117
Herbert 1121-1136?
Gervase de Blois 1138-1157?
Laurence of Durham 1158?-1173
Walter of Winchester 1175-1190
William Postard 1191-1200
Ralph de Arundel alias Papillon 1200-1214
William de Humez 1214-1222
Richard de Berkying 1222-1246
Richard de Crokesley 1246-1258
Philip de Lewisham 1258
Richard de Ware 1258-1283
Walter de Wenlok 1283-1307
Richard de Kedyngton alias Sudbury 1308-1315
William de Curtlyngton 1315-1333
Thomas de Henley 1333-1344
Simon de Bircheston 1344-1349
Simon de Langham 1349-1362
Nicholas de Litlyngton 1362-1386
William de Colchester 1386-1420
Richard Harweden 1420-1440
Edmund Kyrton 1440-1462
George Norwich 1463-1469
Thomas Millyng 1469-1474
John Esteney 1474-1498
George Fascet 1498-1500
John Islip 1500-1532
William Boston 1533-1540 (later Dean Benson)

The monastery was dissolved in January 1540, then was restored by Mary I.

John Feckenham 1556-1559

Bishop of Westminster

Thomas Thirlby 1540-1550

Deans

William Benson (formerly Abbot Boston) 1540-1549
Richard Cox 1549-1553
Hugh Weston 1553-1556
William Bill 1560-1561
Gabriel Goodman 1561-1601
Lancelot Andrewes 1601-1605
Richard Neile 1605-1610
George Montaigne 1610-1617
Robert Tounson 1617-1620
John Williams 1620-1644
Richard Steward (never installed) 1644-1651
(Commonwealth period)
John Earle 1660-1662
John Dolben 1662-1683
Thomas Sprat 1683-1713
Francis Atterbury 1713-1723
Samuel Bradford 1723-1731
Joseph Wilcocks 1731-1756
Zachary Pearce 1756-1768
John Thomas 1768-1793
Samuel Horsley 1793-1802
William Vincent 1802-1815
John Ireland 1816-1842
Thomas Turton 1842-1845
Samuel Wilberforce 1845
William Buckland 1845-1856
Richard Chenevix Trench 1856-1864
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley 1864-1881
George Granville Bradley 1881-1902
Joseph Armitage Robinson 1902-1911
Herbert Edward Ryle 1911-1925
William Foxley Norris 1925-1937
Paul de Labilliere 1938-1946
Alan Don 1946-1959
Eric Abbott 1959-1974
Edward Carpenter 1974-1985
Michael Mayne 1986-1996
Arthur Wesley Carr 1997-2006
John Hall 2006-

Notes

Neile, Dolben, Sprat, Atterbury, Bradford, Wilcocks, Pearce, Thomas and Horsley were also Bishops of Rochester at the same time as they were Dean. As Rochester was an impoverished diocese holding it alongside the Deanery of Westminster enabled it to have an income and a London residence.