John & Elizabeth Heylyn

Dr John Heylyn and his wife and daughter are buried in the south transept of Westminster Abbey. The gravestone is near that of Thomas Parr but the inscription is now very faint except for Elizabeth's name. It reads:

Elizabeth Heylyn died June ye 9th 1747 aged 49 years. She was the wife of the Rev.Dr John Heylyn, a prebendary of this Church. Elizabeth Heylyn their daughter died March ye 28th 1759 aged 37 years. The aforementioned Dr John Heylyn died August ye 11th 1759 aged 74 years. He was the first Rector of St Mary le Strand, which rectory he held for 35 years and was a prebendary of this Church 16 years.

He was the eldest son of John Heylyn, citizen and saddler of London (died 1736 and buried at St Mary le Strand in London), and his wife Susanna (Sherman). He had a brother Edward. After education at Westminster School and Cambridge he was ordained and was vicar of Haslingfield in Cambridgeshire and Sunbury in Middlesex and a chaplain to George III. In 1736 he was made a prebendary of St Paul's cathedral and in 1743 a prebendary at Westminster. He was known as the "Mystic Doctor" because of his interest in that field. By his first wife he had a son John, who became a merchant in Bristol. Another son, Charles Master Heylyn, probably died young.

Elizabeth was John's second wife. Her mother Elizabeth Ebbutt was buried on 16th March 1752 aged 77 in the east cloister.

(Dr Peter Heylyn is also buried in the Abbey but it is not known if there was a relationship)

Further reading

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - John Heylyn