Major André's Repatriation in Westminster Abbey

On this day in history, November 28, 1821, Major André was buried in the Hero’s Corner of Westminster Abbey with a funeral service, 41 years after his execution in 1780. The Funeral Service was conducted by Dean John Ireland. André originally had been buried at the foot of the gallows where he was executed in Tappan, NY, on October 2, 1780. In August of 1821, at the request of the Duke of York, André’s body was exhumed and brought back to England for reburial. He was reburied in front of a monument that had already been erected in Westminster Abbey in his honor in 1782, only two years after his death. The monument was erected with funds from King George III in honor of the fallen soldier for the king’s cause in the American Revolution. The design of the monument was created by Robert Adam with statuary depicting a mourning goddess, Britannia. As Major André was executed at noon on October 2, 1780, a petition to Washington from the British Army regarding André’s safety had also arrived at Dobbs Ferry on its way to Washington at the same time. His monument in Westminster Abbey depicts this scene with a picture of Washington receiving a letter at the hour of André’s death. The monument’s original inscription from when it was first erected in 1782 stated:

"SACRED to the MEMORY of MAJOR JOHN ANDRÉ, who raised by his Merit at an early period of Life to the rank of Adjutant General of the British Forces in America, and employed in an important but hazardous Enterprise fell a Sacrifice to his Zeal for his King and Country on the 2nd of October AD 1780 Aged 29, universally Beloved and esteemed by the Army in which he served and lamented even by his FOES. His gracious Sovereign KING GEORGE the Third has caused this Monument to be erected.”

The rest of the inscription that can be found on his monument today was actually added after his reburial in 1821 reading:

“The Remains of Major JOHN ANDRÉ Were, on the 10th of August 1821, removed from Tappan, By JAMES BUCHANAN ESQr His Majesty's Consul at New York, Under instructions from His Royal Highness The DUKE of YORK, And, with the permission of the Dean and Chapter, Finally deposited in a Grave Contiguous to this Monument, On the 28th of November 1821".

When André’s body first arrived in England, before his reburial, it had been discovered that the Americans had treated André’s exhumation good-heartily, even decorating his coffin with garlands of flowers as it was being transported to the ship that would bring him home. It also was discovered that a couple locks of his hair had remained untouched within the coffin, and those locks of hair were given to his sisters Mary Hannah, Ann Marguerite, and Louisa Catherine. The coffin in which André was transported back home to England is still preserved today in the Abbey’s Triforium and is off limits to the general public.

For further information visit:
Westminster Abbey Website

Major André's memorial in Westminster Abbey depicting a goddess as a mourning Britannia and an engraving telling the story of how the British Army's petition to Washington for André's life came at the same moment that he was lead to his execution.

Major André's memorial in Westminster Abbey depicting a goddess as a mourning Britannia and an engraving telling the story of how the British Army's petition to Washington for André's life came at the same moment that he was lead to his execution.

A close up picture of the engraving depicting the scene in which the British Army's petition to Washington for Major André's life comes at the moment of his execution.