St Margaret's, Westminster

The Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, London, England.^[1] It is dedicated to Margaret of Antioch,^[2] and forms part of a single World Heritage Site with the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey.

For the civil parish of Westminster St Margaret, see Westminster St Margaret and St John.

St Margaret's, Westminster Abbey

City of Westminster, London, UK

51°30′00″N 00°07′37″W / 51.50000°N 0.12694°W / 51.50000; -0.12694

12th Century

1486 to 1523

Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church

Cultural

i, ii, iv

1987 (11th session)

426

United Kingdom

Europe and North America

5 July 1631: and Anne Banks, who was an heiress and a ward of the Court of Aldermen, were married at the church in defiance of orders of the Court and the Privy Council of England. Waller had previously carried the bride off and been forced to return her. On a complaint being made to the Star Chamber, Waller was pardoned by King Charles I.^[15]

Edmund Waller

13 May 1654: Lady Mary Springett ('s mother-in-law) and Isaac Pennington^[16]

William Penn

1 December 1655: and Elisabeth Marchant de St. Michel^[17]

Samuel Pepys

12 November 1656: and Katherine Woodcock^[18]

John Milton

12 June 1895: and Grace Lynn Joynson

William Hicks

12 September 1908: and Clementine Hozier^[19]

Winston Churchill

21 April 1920: , and Lady Dorothy Cavendish^[20]

Harold Macmillan

18 July 1922: , and Edwina Ashley

Lord Louis Mountbatten

8 October 1993: , and the Hon. Serena Stanhope

David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley

As well as marrying its own parishioners, the church has long been a popular venue for society weddings, as Members of Parliament, peers, and officers of the House of Lords and House of Commons can choose to be married in it. Notable weddings include:

Other notable weddings include some of the Bright Young People.^[21]

19 May 1639^[22]

Charles Weston, 3rd Earl of Portland

only child of Lord Grandison and a future royal mistress of King Charles II, was christened in the church on 27 November 1640.^[23]

Barbara Villiers

was christened in the church on 12 May 1661^[24]

Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax

eldest son of Barbara Villiers, was christened in the church on 16 June 1662, when the father's name was given as her husband, Lord Castlemaine, instead of as the King, who later acknowledged the child as his. In October 1850 The Gentleman's Magazine reported this entry and claimed it as "an untruth" and "a new fact in the secret history of Charles II".^[24]

Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Cleveland

28 July 1752^[25]

Thomas Pelham-Clinton, 3rd Duke of Newcastle

a slave who bought his freedom, becoming a key abolitionist, was christened as Gustavus on 9 February 1759, when he was described in the parish register as "Gustavus Vassa a Black born in Carolina 12 years old".^[26]

Olaudah Equiano

1491^[13]

William Caxton

"Lord Quondam", 18 September 1553; and his wife Lady Cicely Grey, 28 April 1554

John Sutton, 3rd Baron Dudley

1557

Nicholas Ludford

December 1558, composer

John Sheppard

1590

Blanche Parry

1604, Elizabethan poet, soldier and courtier

Thomas Churchyard

1618

Sir Walter Raleigh

30 July 1627

William Murray, 2nd Earl of Tullibardine

14 December 1640

Edward Grimeston

Following the , in 1661 several Parliamentarians who had been buried in Westminster Abbey, Admiral Robert Blake, Denis Bond, Nicholas Boscawen,^[27] Mary Bradshaw, Sir William Constable, Admiral Richard Deane, Isaac Dorislaus, Anne Fleetwood, Thomas Hesilrige, Humphrey Mackworth, Stephen Marshall, Thomas May, John Meldrum, Admiral Edward Popham, John Pym, Humphrey Salwey, William Strong, William Strode, and William Twisse, were all disinterred from there and reburied in an unmarked pit in St Margaret's churchyard, on the orders of King Charles II. A memorial to them is set into the external wall to the left of the main west entrance.^[28]

Restoration of the Monarchy

Mary [Davies] [Born 1675] Widow of ; she is buried in the courtyard close to the north porch of the church

Sir Thomas Grosvenor, 3rd Baronet

March 1677

Wenceslas Hollar

1680

Thomas Blood

1723

John West, 6th Baron De La Warr

Bishop , 1746

Nicholas Clagett

scholar and early feminist, 1756.^[29]

Elizabeth Elstob

composer, writer, slavery abolitionist, 1780^[30]

Ignatius Sancho

1819^[31]

Henry Constantine Jennings

ex-leader of Liberal Party

Jeremy Thorpe

Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon

Lady Elizabeth Shakerley

Other notable events[edit]

On Easter day 1555 in the reign of Mary I a Protestant ex-Benedictine monk, William Flower inflicted wounds to the administerer of the sacrament. He repented for the injuries but would not repent his motive which was rejection of the doctrine of transubstantiation. He was thus sentenced for heresy and a week later severed of his hand and burned at the stake outside the church.

During the First World War, Edward Lyttelton, headmaster of Eton, gave a sermon in the church on the theme of "loving your enemies", promoting the view that any post-war treaty with Germany should be a just one and not vindictive. He had to leave the church after the service by a back door, while a number of demonstrators sang Rule Britannia! in protest at his attitude.^[32]

Choirs[edit]

The treble choristers for St Margaret's are supplied by Westminster Under School. The church also hosted the first performance by the UK Parliament Choir under Simon Over in 2000.

Organ[edit]

An organ was installed in 1806 by John Avery. The current organ is largely built by J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.^[33]

Explanatory plaque

St Margaret's Church. To the left is the Elizabeth Tower of the Palace of Westminster; to the right is the Abbey.

St Margaret's, seen from the London Eye Ferris wheel

The nave of St Margaret's

Flag of St Margaret's, flown from the bell tower

St Margaret's, Westminster