Place    From 1559 

Poets' Corner

Categories: Literature

The popular name for the south transept of Westminster Abbey. Geoffrey Chaucer was the first person to be interred here, although it was for his position as Clerk of Works to the Palace of Westminster, rather than for literary merit. It wasn't until the burial of Edmund Spenser that the tradition began. The name was supposed to have been coined by Oliver Goldsmith. Nowadays occupants are commemorated with a wall or floor tablet rather than actual interment.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Poets' Corner

Commemorated ati

Robert Browning - W8

Robert Browning lived in this house 1887 - 1889, from here his body was taken...

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Other Subjects

Stevie Smith

Stevie Smith

Author and poet. Born Florence Margaret Smith in Kingston upon Hull. She supposedly got her nickname when out riding with a friend, who thought she looked like the jockey Steve Donoghue. Her father...

Person, Literature, Poetry

1 memorial
Mabel Dearmer

Mabel Dearmer

Novelist, playwright, translator and illustrator.  Born Jessie Mabel Prichard White, daughter of Surgeon-Major William White. Her illustrations were accepted by the Yellow Book. 1892 married Percy ...

Person, Art, Literature, Theatre, Balkans

War dead, WW1
2 memorials
Alan Bennett

Alan Bennett

Playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born Leeds.  First popular success was 'Beyond the Fringe' at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival, with Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore.  Since then...

Person, Literature

2 memorials
Emile Zola

Emile Zola

French novelist, playwright, journalist. Born Paris but when he was three the family moved to Aix-en-Provence where he was brought up and where he became friends with Paul Cézanne . When he was 18 ...

Person, Literature, France

1 memorial
James Hanley

James Hanley

Novelist and playwright.  The ODNB says he was born Dublin 1901.  Wikipedia says that's wrong; it was Liverpool in 1897.  Left school aged 12 and educated himself thereafter.  In WW1 he served in t...

Person, Literature, Ireland, Wales

1 memorial

Previously viewed

St Mary Moorfields

St Mary Moorfields

Catholic church built by architect John Newman in 1820. Replaced in 1902 by the church of the same name in nearby Eldon Street. From the church's website: "As the permanent seat of the Vicar Apost...

Building, Religion

1 memorial
Sophie Marsham

Sophie Marsham

Sculptor active in 2014.

Person, Sculpture

1 memorial
Anthony Standerwick Heal

Anthony Standerwick Heal

Son of Sir Ambrose Heal of the Heals furniture shop which was established in 1810.  It moved from Rathbone Place to Tottenham Court Road in 1818.  Anthony became a director in 1936 and the Chairman...

Person, Commerce, Craft / Design, Politics & Administration

2 memorials
Adelphi Terrace

Adelphi Terrace

The Adam brothers built a very large development including a run of houses with a terrace that overlooked the river, which was much closer before the Embankment was built. It was this terrace that ...

Place, Architecture

3 memorials
H. Abbott

H. Abbott

Name on one of the corner plaques of the East Ham WW1 memorial.

Person

War dead, WW1
1 memorial