Who Is Buried in Westminster Abbey? Kings, Scientists, Poets

Short answer: more than 3,300 people are buried or commemorated in Westminster Abbey, by Wikipedia’s count. They include about 17 monarchs, from Edward the Confessor to George II; the scientists Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking; writers such as Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy; and the Unknown Warrior. Some famous names, such as Shakespeare and Jane Austen, have memorials only and are buried elsewhere.

How many people are buried in Westminster Abbey?

Wikipedia’s list of burials and memorials puts the total at more than 3,300 people buried or commemorated in the Abbey. Its main article on the Abbey describes it as the burial site of more than 3,300 people. Either way, graves and memorials fill the floors and walls, and many of the slabs you walk over are gravestones.

The difference between buried and commemorated matters here. A burial means the person, or their ashes, lies in the Abbey. A memorial is a stone, tablet, bust or window to someone buried somewhere else. This guide marks each name accordingly.

Kings and queens

The Abbey’s own royal tombs page names these monarchs buried in the church:

• Edward the Confessor, in the shrine behind the high altar.
• Henry III, who built the present church, beside the shrine.
• Edward I, Edward III and Richard II, with their queens, in St Edward the Confessor’s Chapel.
• Henry V, who died in 1422, under a chantry chapel near the shrine.
• Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, beneath their tomb in the Lady Chapel.
• Edward VI, in front of the altar.
• Mary I and Elizabeth I, in one tomb in the north aisle of the Lady Chapel.
• Mary, Queen of Scots, in the south aisle of the Lady Chapel.
• James I, in Henry VII’s vault, with no monument.
• Charles II, William III, Mary II and Anne, in a vault in the south aisle, marked only by small stones.
• George II, in a vault under the Lady Chapel. He was the last monarch buried in the Abbey.

Why Elizabeth II is not here: Wikipedia notes that every monarch who died after George II was buried at Windsor, in St George’s Chapel or the Royal Burial Ground at Frogmore. Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral was held in the Abbey on 19 September 2022, and she was buried that day in the King George VI Memorial Chapel at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. More in the royal tombs of Westminster Abbey.

Scientists: Newton, Darwin and Hawking

Three of the best-known scientists in history lie close together in the nave, in an area the Abbey calls Scientists’ Corner.

Name	Buried or interred	Where
Sir Isaac Newton	Buried 28 March 1727	In front of the choir screen, beside his monument
Charles Darwin	Buried 26 April 1882	North aisle of the nave, a few feet from Newton
Stephen Hawking	Ashes interred 15 June 2018	In the nave, not far from Newton and Darwin

All three are on the standard visitor route through the nave.

Writers in Poets’ Corner

Poets’ Corner, in the south transept, holds more than 100 poets and writers, buried or with memorials. It began with Geoffrey Chaucer, buried in 1400 because he was Clerk of the King’s Works.

Buried in the Abbey (the sources say buried or ashes interred):

• Geoffrey Chaucer (1400) and Edmund Spenser (1599).
• Charles Dickens, buried 14 June 1870.
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson, buried in October 1892 between John Dryden and Robert Browning.
• Thomas Hardy: his ashes were interred on 16 January 1928; his heart is buried at Stinsford in Dorset.
• Rudyard Kipling, whose ashes were interred in 1936.
• Samuel Johnson, with a bust above his grave.
• Ben Jonson, buried upright in the north aisle of the nave, with a tablet in Poets’ Corner.

Memorial only (buried elsewhere):

• William Shakespeare: buried at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. His Abbey memorial dates from 1741.
• Jane Austen: buried in Winchester Cathedral. Her tablet was unveiled on 17 December 1967.
• Recent floor stones for Ted Hughes (2011), C. S. Lewis (2013) and Philip Larkin (2016) are memorials.

Full list and history: Poets’ Corner.

The most recent burials

The latest year in Wikipedia’s list is 2018, when Stephen Hawking’s ashes were interred in the nave on 15 June during his memorial service. The same list records a burial in the south choir aisle in 2014.

The best-known grave is older: the Unknown Warrior, an unidentified British serviceman of the First World War, buried at the west end of the nave on 11 November 1920. It is the only gravestone in the Abbey that visitors do not walk on. See the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.

How to find a grave inside the Abbey

• Search the Abbey’s own commemorations pages. The Abbey’s website has a page for each person buried or commemorated, with the location in the church.
• Use the multimedia guide. It comes with every ticket, in 14 languages, and covers the main tombs and graves.
• Ask a Marshal. Marshals stand along the route.
• Know what the standard ticket does not reach. St Edward the Confessor’s Chapel, with the shrine and the tombs of Henry III, Edward I, Edward III, Richard II and Henry V, has been closed to general visitors since 1997. Verger-led tours (about 90 minutes, entry plus £10, booked on arrival) go inside. The Lady Chapel tombs are up 12 steps plus 3.

Most of the graves in this guide are on the route of the standard Westminster Abbey entrance ticket ($43). If you want a guide to point out the graves and tell their stories, book a guided tour of Westminster Abbey from $100, or compare everything on our tours page.