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Person    | Male  Born 7/2/1478  Died 6/7/1535

Sir Thomas More

Sir Thomas More

Born Milk Street. In conflict with Henry VIII over religion he was imprisoned in the tower, found guilty of treason and beheaded on Tower Hill. Final words: "The King's good servant, but God's First." 

From his marriage in 1505 he lived in Bucklersbury in the City. In 1525 he moved from there to Chelsea to a house he had built, (later known as) Beaufort House. In 1529 he was made Lord Chancellor.

A very good friend of Erasmus who often stayed with More in Beaufort House.

As a traitor, his head was displayed on a pike at London Bridge for a month. His daughter, Margaret, later rescued the severed head and it is believed to rest in the Roper Vault of St Dunstan's Church, Canterbury.  Alternatively it may be buried within the tomb erected for More in Chelsea Old Church. A third, unlikely, story is that John Donne's mother, Elizabeth, who was a great-niece of Thomas More, carried his head around with her.

2025: confirmed that Margaret "was buried with the head following her death in 1544. It was moved with her remains when they were transferred to the Roper family vault more than 30 years later." And "The Church of England is weighing plans to exhume and enshrine the head of St. Thomas More ... it wants to exhume the skull so it can be venerated by pilgrims. ... to exhume and conserve what remains of the relic, which will take several years to dry out and stabilize. 'We could just put it back in the vault, maybe in a reliquary of some kind, or we could place the reliquary in some sort of shrine or carved stone pillar above ground in the Roper chapel, which is what many of our visitors have requested.' "

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Sir Thomas More

Commemorated ati

Cheyne Walk heads - More and Erasmus

No inscription remains legible but we believe we've found the painting used a...

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City of London School 0 - More

{On the statue's plinth:} More

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Lindsey House

Lindsey House, built 1674 by Robert Bertie 3rd Earl of Lindsey, incorporates ...

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Margaret Roper - Woolwich Town Hall

{On the stained-glass plaque:} Margaret, a pious & learned woman, the bel...

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Moravians / Gillick Pageant / Beaufort House

This unusual memorial was created by Ernest and Mary Gillick in their studio ...

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Show all 17

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Tyburn tree

Tyburn tree

The first recorded execution here was the hanging of the champion of London's poor, William Fitz Osbern in 1196. Back then there may have been a real tree but in 1571 the 'Tyburn Tree' was erected....

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Corporal Samuel MacPhearson

Corporal Samuel MacPhearson

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James Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater

James Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater

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1 memorial
Lord Balmerino

Lord Balmerino

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John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester

John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester

Unusually well-educated.  Titles: Lord High Treasurer, Lord High Constable, Deputy Governor of Ireland.... and Butcher of England - for his relish in executing many Lancastrians.  Thus when the Lan...

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1 memorial