Dean of Westminster

The west façade of the Abbey

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 Queen (neither 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 a bishopric. The current dean is the Very Revd John Hall.

List of deans

Early modern

• 1540–1549 William Benson (last abbot)
• 1549–1553 Richard Cox
• 1553–1556 Hugh Weston
• 1556–1559 John Feckenham was abbot
• 1560–1561 William Bill
• 1561–1601 Gabriel Goodman
• 1601–1605 Lancelot Andrewes
• 1605–1610 Richard Neile
• 1610–1617 George Montaigne
• 1617–1620 Robert Tounson
• 1620–1644 John Williams
• 1644–1651 Richard Steward (not installed – Commonwealth)
• 1660–1662 John Earle
• 1662–1683 John Dolben
• 1683–1713 Thomas Sprat
• 1713–1723 Francis Atterbury
• 1723–1731 Samuel Bradford
• 1731–1756 Joseph Wilcocks
• 1756–1768 Zachary Pearce
• 1768–1793 John Thomas
• 1793–1802 Samuel Horsley

Late modern

• 1802–1815 William Vincent
• 1816–1842 John Ireland
• 1842–1845 Thomas Turton
• 1845 Samuel Wilberforce
• 1845–1856 William Buckland
• 1856–1864 Richard Chenevix Trench
• 1864–1881 Arthur Stanley
• 1881–1902 George Bradley
• 1902–1911 Armitage Robinson
• 1911–1925 Herbert Ryle
• 1925–1937 William Foxley Norris
• 1938–1946 Paul de Labilliere
• 1946–1959 Alan Don
• 1959–1974 Eric Abbott KCVO
• 1974–1985 Edward Carpenter KCVO
• 1986–1996 Michael Mayne KCVO
• 1997–2006 Wesley Carr KCVO
• 2006–present John Hall

The Deanery at Westminster Abbey

Sources

• Abbots and Deans of Westminster (Westminster Abbey)