Ernest Hawkins

In the east cloister of Westminster Abbey is a marble monument to the Reverend Ernest Hawkins, Canon of Westminster from 1864-1868. The monument is in the form of a cross with a lettered base and carved coat of arms and was designed by George Gilbert Scott and made by Henry Poole. He was buried on 12th October 1868. The inscription reads:

To the honoured memory of Ernest Hawkins B.D. sometime Canon of this Church to whose zealous and judicious labours as secretary to the venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts during twenty six eventful years the British colonies throughout the world bear witness. Born January 25 1801 Died October 5 1868. His sorrowing widow and many friends place this tablet

He was a son of Major Henry Hawkins, who was in the East India Company's service and whose father, grandfather and great grandfather had been rectors of Higham Gobion in Hertfordshire, and his wife Ann (Gurney). He was educated at Oxford and was secretary of SPG from 1838-1864. In 1844 he was a prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral. On 29th July 1852 he married Sophia Anna Lefroy.

Further reading

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2004

The SPG became the USPG and is now called US