Memorial of the month
Learn about the lives and legacies of those remembered in the Abbey and discover how people from all walks of life have ended up in the nation's church.
Join a member of staff at 10:30am every Tuesday and Thursday during visitor opening hours for a 10-minute talk about one of the thousands of memorials or graves that can be found around the Abbey. Please be aware this offer can be subject to cancellation at short notice.
These talks are available to those with a ticket to visit Westminster Abbey.
Major John André was a British Army officer whose story became closely tied to one of the most dramatic episodes of the American War of Independence. Captured in 1780, he was tried by George Washington’s forces and executed as a spy. Though his death was controversial, he was widely admired for his character.
Talks will take place at 10:30am every Tuesday and Thursday during visitor opening hours. We will meet in Poets’ Corner.
William Caxton was England’s first printer and publisher who set up a printing press near Westminster Abbey in 1476. Learn more about how Caxton helped transform literary culture in England, making books more widely available and allowing ideas, stories and knowledge to spread in new ways.
Talks will take place at 10:30am every Tuesday and Thursday during visitor opening hours. We will meet in Poets’ Corner.
Ignatius Sancho was a writer, composer and abolitionist whose life offers a remarkable glimpse into Black British history in the eighteenth century. Born on a slave ship and brought to England as a child, he went on to build a life in Westminster as a shopkeeper, writer, and public voice against the transatlantic slave trade. He married Ann Osborne in St Margaret’s Church in 1758, and a memorial to them was unveiled there in 2023. Learn more about this groundbreaking man and the ongoing efforts to recognise his achievements in this short talk.
Talks will take place at 10:30am every Tuesday and Thursday during visitor opening hours. We will meet in the North Transept by the Information Desk.
