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The Vaughan Chantry (Chapel of St Thomas of Canterbury)




The memorial to the Cathedral's founder,
Cardinal Vaughan

The small Chapel dedicated to St Thomas in the north transept and wholly enclosed by grilles of gilt bronze, is Cardinal’s Vaughan’s Chantry. Within its gates, the monument to Cardinal Vaughan bears the inscription: Pray for the soul of Herbert Vaughan Cardinal Priest of the Holy Roman Church, third Archbishop of Westminster and founder of this Cathedral, born 15 April 1832, died 19 June, 1903.

The memorial to Cardinal Vaughan was designed by
J A Marshall and carved by Henry McCarthy, a sculptor who had worked for Bentley, the architect of the Cathedral, for many years. It is hewn from pure white Pentelic and the Cardinal faces the altar, his head resting on a pair of tasselled cushions. Clad in lace rochet and the characteristic skull-cap of prelates, the body is more slender than this imposing figure had been in life.

The Friends of Westminster Cathedral adopted the renovation, conservation and completion of the mosaic decorative scheme of the Vaughan Chantry as their current special fundraising project.