The Dean of Westminster is the head of the chapter at Westminster Abbey. Due to the abbey's status as a royal peculiar, the dean answers directly to the British monarch (not to the Bishop of London as ordinary, nor to the Archbishop of Canterbury as metropolitan). Initially, the office was a successor to that of Abbot of Westminster, and was for the first 10 years cathedral dean for the Diocese of Westminster. The current dean is David Hoyle.
Name | Portrait | Term of office | |
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William Benson (formerly last abbot of the Benedictine abbey) |
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1540 | 1549 [†] |
Richard Cox |
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1549 | 1553 |
Hugh Weston |
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1553 | 1556 |
Vacancy (restored as Benedictine abbey) John Feckenham, abbot |
1556 | 1559 | |
William Bill |
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1560 | 1561 [†] |
Gabriel Goodman |
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1561 | 1601 [†] |
Lancelot Andrewes |
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1601 | 1605 |
Richard Neile (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester from 1608) |
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1605 | 1610 |
George Montaigne |
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1610 | 1617 |
Robert Tounson |
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1617 | 1620 |
John Williams (in commendam as Bishop of Lincoln 1621–41, as Archbishop of York from 1641) |
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1620 | 1644 |
Richard Steward (not installed) |
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1644 | 1651 [†] |
Vacancy ( English Interregnum) | 1651 | 1660 | |
John Earle |
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1660 | 1662 |
John Dolben (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester from 1666 [R 1]) |
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1662 | 1683 |
Thomas Sprat (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester from 1684 [R 1]) |
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1683 | 1713 [†] |
Francis Atterbury (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester [R 1]) |
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1713 | 1723 |
Samuel Bradford (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester [R 1]) |
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1723 | 1731 [†] |
Joseph Wilcocks (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester [R 1]) |
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1731 | 1756 [†] |
Zachary Pearce (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester [R 1]) |
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1756 | 1768 |
John Thomas (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester from 1774 [R 1]) |
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1768 | 1793 [†] |
Samuel Horsley (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester [R 1]) |
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1793 | 1802 |
William Vincent |
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1802 | 1815 [†] |
John Ireland |
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1816 | 1842 [†] |
Thomas Turton |
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1842 | 1845 |
Samuel Wilberforce |
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March–October 1845 | |
William Buckland |
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1845 | 1856 [†] |
Richard Chenevix Trench |
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1856 | 1864 |
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley |
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1864 | 1881 [†] |
George Granville Bradley |
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1881 | 1902 |
Armitage Robinson |
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1902 [1] | 1911 |
Herbert Edward Ryle |
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1911 | 1925 [†] |
William Foxley Norris |
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1925 | 1937 [†] |
Paul de Labilliere |
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1938 | 1946 [†] |
Alan Don |
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1946 | 1959 |
Eric Abbott |
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1959 | 1974 |
Edward Carpenter |
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1974 | 1985 |
Michael Mayne |
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1986 | 1996 |
Wesley Carr |
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1997 | 2006 |
John Hall |
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2006 [2] | 2019 |
David Hoyle |
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2019 | Present |
Horn, Joyce M. (ed.). "Deans of Westminster". Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541-1857. Vol. 7. pp. 69–71. Retrieved 12 September 2019.