RIII Memorial Stone, Leicester Cathedral

David Guy Barnabas Kindersley, stone-carver and type designer, was born in Codicote, Hertfordshire, on 11 June 1915. Among his work is the Richard III Memorial Stone, which used to be in Leicester Cathedral.  The stone is now on loan to the King Richard III Visitor Centre,which also allows access to Richard’s original grave

In the Ricardian Bulletin of December 1982 Jeremy Potter in his AGM report said the following:

“The Leicester Memorial Stone, carved by David Kindersley, dedicated in August, was not a Society project, but that of the Rev T.C.Hunter-Clare; however the Society was glad to have been able to contribute and had much appreciated the dedication service.”

At the previous year’s AGM he said: “The Society had made an initial small donation and a larger later one”.

Around this time the  Leicester Statue fund was wound up and it was agreed the residue would be used for special projects “such as the Leicester Cathedral Memorial and Fotheringhay Chapel.”

More information on David Kindersley: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituariesdavid-kindersley-1571426.html and on Dottie Tales.

Dorothea Preis

Tags: Leicester, Richard III

Wedding of  Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII at the Franciscan church at Greenwich.

Tags: Henry VIII, Katherine of Aragon

Birth of Anne Neville, younger daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (‘The Kingmaker”) and Anne Beauchamp, at Warwick Castle.  She was later the wife of Richard III.

Tags: Anne Neville

Death of Elizabeth Woodville at Bermondsey Abbey.  Her will indicates that during her last years she lived in relative poverty.  For her funeral she was accompanied by four people, one of them Edward IV’s illegitimate daughter Grace.  Her coffin was taken quietly from Bermondsey to Windsor Castle, where she arrived in the middle of the night by just a single priest and a clerk without any formalities.  She seems to have been interred virtually immediately next to Edward IV.

Bibliography: David Baldwin, Elizabeth Woodville:  Mother of the Princes in the Tower.  Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2002.  ISBN 0 7509 3886 2, pp. 123-125

Tags: Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville

Death of George Neville, Archbishop of York.  He was the fourth and youngest surviving son of Richard Neville, fifth earl of Salisbury (1400–1460), and Alice Montagu (c.1406–1462).  His eldest brother was Richard, earl of Warwick (“The Kingmaker”).  His interest in learning and association with learned men is thought to have been a strong influence on Richard, duke of Gloucester.

Tags: Nevilles

Thomas Becket consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury.

Tags: Church

Death of Cecily Neville (mother of Edward IV and Richard III) at Berkhamstead Castle, Hertfordshire.  She was buried with her husband Richard and son Edmund at St Mary and All Saints Church, Fotheringhay.

Tags: Cecily Neville, House of York, Richard Duke of York

Birth of Margaret Beaufort, daughter and heir of John Beaufort, duke of Somerset (1404–1444), and Margaret (d. 1482), daughter of Sir John Beauchamp of Bletsoe, Bedfordshire.

She was an influential supporter of her son Henry Tudor, who became Henry VII after defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth.

Tags: Henry Tudor, Margaret Beaufort

Coronation of Margaret of Anjou in Westminster Abbey.  The ceremony was performed by the archbishop of Canterbury, John Stafford.

Source: ODNB on Margaret of Anjou

Tags: Margaret of Anjou