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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| William Benson (formerly last abbot of the Benedictine abbey) |  | 1540 | 1549 [†] |
| Richard Cox |  | 1549 | 1553 |
| Hugh Weston | | 1553 | 1556 |
| Vacancy (restored as Benedictine abbey) John Feckenham, abbot | 1556 | 1559 | |
| William Bill |  | 1560 | 1561 [†] |
| Gabriel Goodman |  | 1561 | 1601 [†] |
| Lancelot Andrewes |  | 1601 | 1605 |
| Richard Neile (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester from 1608) |  | 1605 | 1610 |
| George Montaigne |  | 1610 | 1617 |
| Robert Tounson | | 1617 | 1620 |
| John Williams (in commendam as Bishop of Lincoln 1621–41, as Archbishop of York from 1641) |  | 1620 | 1644 |
| Richard Steward (not installed) |  | 1644 | 1651 [†] |
| Vacancy (English Interregnum) | 1651 | 1660 | |
| John Earle |  | 1660 | 1662 |
| John Dolben (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester from 1666 [R 1] ) |  | 1662 | 1683 |
| Thomas Sprat (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester from 1684 [R 1] ) |  | 1683 | 1713 [†] |
| Francis Atterbury (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester [R 1] ) |  | 1713 | 1723 |
| Samuel Bradford (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester [R 1] ) |  | 1723 | 1731 [†] |
| Joseph Wilcocks (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester [R 1] ) |  | 1731 | 1756 [†] |
| Zachary Pearce (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester [R 1] ) |  | 1756 | 1768 |
| John Thomas (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester from 1774 [R 1] ) |  | 1768 | 1793 [†] |
| Samuel Horsley (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester [R 1] ) |  | 1793 | 1802 |
| William Vincent |  | 1802 | 1815 [†] |
| John Ireland |  | 1816 | 1842 [†] |
| Thomas Turton |  | 1842 | 1845 |
| Samuel Wilberforce |  | March–October 1845 | |
| William Buckland |  | 1845 | 1856 [†] |
| Richard Chenevix Trench |  | 1856 | 1864 |
| Arthur Penrhyn Stanley |  | 1864 | 1881 [†] |
| George Granville Bradley |  | 1881 | 1902 |
| Armitage Robinson | | 1902 [1] | 1911 |
| Herbert Edward Ryle |  | 1911 | 1925 [†] |
| William Foxley Norris |  | 1925 | 1937 [†] |
| Paul de Labilliere | | 1938 | 1946 [†] |
| Alan Don | | 1946 | 1959 |
| Eric Abbott | | 1959 | 1974 |
| Edward Carpenter | | 1974 | 1985 |
| Michael Mayne | | 1986 | 1996 |
| Wesley Carr | | 1997 | 2006 |
| John Hall |  | 2006 [2] | 2019 |
| David Hoyle | | 2019 | Present |
Thomas Sprat, FRS was an English churchman and writer, Bishop of Rochester from 1684.
Herbert Edward Ryle was an English Old Testament scholar and Anglican bishop, successively serving as the Bishop of Exeter, the Bishop of Winchester and the Dean of Westminster.
In canon law, commendam was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice in trust to the custody of a patron. The phrase in commendam was originally applied to the provisional occupation of an ecclesiastical benefice, which was temporarily without an actual occupant, in contrast to the conferral of a title, in titulum, which was applied to the regular and unconditional occupation of a benefice.
The Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral is the senior cleric of the Protestant St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, elected by the chapter of the cathedral. The office was created in 1219 or 1220, by one of several charters granted to the cathedral by Archbishop Henry de Loundres between 1218 and 1220.
John Piers (Peirse) was Archbishop of York between 1589 and 1594. Previous to that he had been Bishop of Rochester and Bishop of Salisbury.
The Diocese of Chester is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York covering the pre-1974 county of Cheshire and therefore including the Wirral and parts of Stockport, Trafford and Tameside.
William Vincent was Dean of Westminster from 1802 to 1815.
The Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin is dean and head of the chapter of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, commonly called Christ Church Cathedral, which is the cathedral church of the United Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough in the Church of Ireland. The dean is appointed by the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin. Aspects of the cathedral administration are overseen by the Cathedral Board, which the Dean chairs with both a regular and a casting vote.
Thomas Ravis was a Church of England bishop and academic. He was among those engaged in translating the King James Bible.
Paul Fulcrand Delacour De Labillière was the second Bishop of Knaresborough from 1934 to 1937; and, subsequently, Dean of Westminster.
Joseph Armitage Robinson was a priest in the Church of England and scholar. He was successively Dean of Westminster (1902–1911) and of Wells (1911–1933).
John Salisbury, O.S.B. was a Welsh clergyman who held high office in the pre- and post-Reformation church in England.
Ernest Morell Blackie was a British Anglican bishop in the 20th century.
Samuel Bradford was an English churchman and whig, bishop successively of Carlisle and Rochester.
Joseph Wilcocks was an English churchman, bishop of Gloucester, and bishop of Rochester and dean of Westminster.
Welbore Ellis (1651?–1734) was an English bishop of Kildare, bishop of Meath and Irish privy councillor.
John Ireland was an English Anglican priest, who served as Dean of Westminster from 1816 until his death. In this role, he carried the crown during the coronation services at Westminster Abbey of two monarchs. Theologically and politically conservative, as shown in his writings, he was generous with the considerable riches that he acquired during his career, making large donations to support education and relieve poverty in his home town. In 1831, as Ireland was "a distinguished Benefactor of the University", Oxford had sought and obtained his permission to put on display a marble bust of him by the sculptor Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey. The bust is now in the Examination Schools of the university. During his lifetime, he established scholarships at the University of Oxford, and in his will, he left money to establish the post of Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture.
David Michael Hoyle is a British Anglican priest and academic who was appointed the 39th Dean of Westminster in 2019, having previously served as Dean of Bristol from 2010 to 2019.
The Dean and Chapter of Westminster are the ecclesiastical governing body of Westminster Abbey, a collegiate church of the Church of England and royal peculiar in Westminster, Greater London. They consist of the dean and several canons meeting in chapter and are also known as the Dean and Canons of Westminster.
The Dean of Ferns is based at The Cathedral Church of St Edan, Ferns in the united Diocese of Cashel and Ossory within the Church of Ireland.
Horn, Joyce M. (ed.). "Deans of Westminster". Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541-1857. Vol. 7. pp. 69–71. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
