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

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...

Read More

Other Subjects

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw

Born Dublin. Socialist, member of the Fabian Society. Plays include: Saint Joan, Major Barbara and Pygmalion on which My Fair Lady is based. Didn't like his first name, "Don't George me!" so is oft...

Person, Literature, Politics & Administration, Seriously Famous, Theatre, Ireland

5 memorials
Dr Watson

Dr Watson

John H. Watson, MD, friend of Sherlock Holmes.

Fiction, Literature, Medicine, Seriously Famous

3 memorials
John Thelwall

John Thelwall

Orator, writer and elocutionist. Born in Covent Garden. It was as a political activist that he became well known. He was tried for treason and spent some time in the Tower of London and Newgate. He...

Person, Literature, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Sir Osbert Sitwell

Sir Osbert Sitwell

Born 3 Arlington Street. Writer, famed for his collaborations with his sister Edith and brother Sacheverell. He wrote the libretto for Sir William Walton’s oratorio, Belshazzar’s Feast. Died Monteg...

Person, Literature, Music / songs, Italy

2 memorials
Bruce Bairnsfather

Bruce Bairnsfather

Cartoonist. WW1 artist. Born Muree, India. He was serving on the western front at the time of the Christmas Truce of 1914 and drew and wrote about it. An article in the Malvern Gazette 21/9/11, pro...

Person, Art, Literature, France, India

1 memorial