George Stone DD

ANDREW STONE (-1711), banker and goldsmith, of Lombard Street, London, married Anne Holbrooke, and had issue,

Andrew (1703-73), MP, his heir;
Richard;
GEORGE, of whom hereafter;
Anne, m Rt Rev William Barnard, Lord Bishop of Derry.

The youngest son,

THE MOST REV AND RT HON DR GEORGE STONE (1708-64), Lord Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland and Metropolitan, was buried in the north aisle of the nave of Westminster Abbey on the 28th December, 1764.

He was educated at Westminster School, where he was a King's Scholar, he was elected to Christ Church, Oxford after which he was ordained.

His Grace went to Ireland in 1731 as Chaplain to the Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

In 1733 Stone was appointed Dean of Ferns, and in the following year he exchanged this deanery for that of Derry.

Photo Credit: Christ Church College, Oxford

Dr Stone was consecrated Lord Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin in 1740, translated to the bishopric of Kildare, 1743, and to the see of Derry in 1745.

In 1747, he was translated to the archiepiscopal see of Armagh as Lord Primate, and enthroned five years afterwards, in 1752.

During the two years that he occupied the see of Kildare, Dr Stone he was also Dean of Christ Church, Dublin.

His Grace died unmarried, of gout, at his brother's house in the Privy Garden, Whitehall.

His coffin lay in state in the Jerusalem Chamber of Westminster Abbey prior to interment.

The gravestones to the Stone family were removed, with many others, when the nave floor was re-laid in 1834.

Small lozenge stones with names and dates replaced them but most of these, being worn away, are now covered by a modern stone to William Herschel.

Only George Stone's small stone can now be seen.

The original inscriptions were recorded and the Latin can be translated thus:

Here lies Andrew Stone, treasurer to queen Charlotte. Died 16 December 1773 aged 71. And Thomas Stone his son died 7 February 1761 aged 12. 

Here are also deposited the remains of Hannah, wife of Andrew Stone, died 5 June 1782 aged 73. 

In the same tomb lies buried Sara Mauvillain sister of Hannah Stone died 22 January 1804 aged 91. 

Here lies the body of George Stone, S.T.P. [professor of sacred theology], archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland and Metropolitan. Died December 19 1764 aged 57.

First published in December, 2019.