John and Paul Methuen

John and Paul Methuen have a joint memorial in the south choir aisle of Westminster Abbey.

John was the eldest son of Paul Methuen (d.1667) cloth merchant of Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire and his wife Grace (Ashe). His younger brother was Anthony. He was educated at Oxford and became a lawyer. In 1672 he married Mary Chevers. John was appointed a master in chancery and in 1691 was made envoy to Portugal. He was also M.P. for Devizes, Lord Chancellor of Ireland and later Ambassador Extraordinary to Portugal when he concluded what is often known as the 'Methuen (or Port Wine) Treaty'. On 13th July 1706 he died at Lisbon and his body was later returned to England for burial in the south choir aisle of the Abbey on 17th September 1708. His daughter Isabella was buried with him on 29th April 1711, aged 29.

His son Paul was born about 1672 and gained diplomatic experience with his father in Lisbon. He was envoy to Portugal and Ambassador there, Minister at Turin, Ambassador to Spain and Morocco, Lord of the Admiralty and a Knight of the Order of the Bath. His Bath stall plate is in the Lady Chapel at the Abbey. He died unmarried and was buried near his father. His estates passed to his cousin Paul Methuen of Corsham Court in Wiltshire who paid for this monument (and another to his father at Bradford on Avon church).

The memorial, of white and coloured marbles, is by the sculptor Michael Rysbrack and is in a window bay of the south choir aisle. The inscription reads:

Near this place lies the body of JOHN METHUEN Esqr. who died abroad in the service of his country Anno Dom. 1706. And also that of his son Sir PAUL METHUEN Knight of the Bath who died April 11th 1757 in the 85th year of his age.

The coat of arms above is "argent, three wolves heads erased".

Further reading

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004 for John Methuen

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004 for Paul Methuen

"Michael Rysbrack..." by Katherine Eustace, 1982

Papers about erecting the memorial are in the Methuen papers at Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre