Sir John Shorditch

Sir John Shorditch (Shoreditch) was buried in St Benedict's chapel in Westminster Abbey in 1345. His grave may be that which is now mostly hidden beneath the later tomb chest of Dr William Bill. He was a royal clerk who abandoned the clerical estate when he was knighted in 1333 and he was a baron of the Exchequer. Edward II and Edward III both employed him on important diplomatic missions abroad. In 1339 he and his wife Elena (Eleanor or Ellen) founded a chantry of two monk chaplains to celebrate service daily at the altar of St Benedict for them, their ancestors and successors. She may also have been buried with him. They were benefactors to the monastery, giving several tenements in the City of London for the Abbey's use. He was also possibly a steward of the Convent manors. In 1345 he was murdered by being smothered by four of his servants at his house in Ware.

An earlier Sir John (probably grandfather of the above), ambassador to Rome in the reign of Henry III, was also buried in this chapel as it is noted in John Flete's history of the Abbey that Abbot Curtlyngton was buried in 1333 beside the tomb of John Shorditch in St Benedict's chapel.