Historical births, marriages and deaths

St Marylebone Parish Church has marked the most significant life stages, from birth, to marriage, and to death, for several historic figures.

Charles Wesley lived and worked in the area around St Marylebone Parish Church. It is told that just before his death in 1788, he sent for its rector John Harley and told him “Sir, whatever the world may say of me, I have lived, and I die, a member of the Church of England. I pray you to bury me in your churchyard.” On his death, his body was carried to the church by six clergymen, and a memorial stone to him stands in the gardens in Marylebone High Street, close to his burial spot.

Sir George Staunton, 2nd Baronet was buried in the Crypt vault at St Marylebone next to the remains of his mother, Jane Staunton.

John Vardill was an American Loyalist educator, pamphleteer, clergyman, playwright, poet, and spy. He died in London on 16th January 1811 and was buried in St Marylebone.

William Henry Cavendish Cavendish-Bentinck (1738-1809) was a British Whig and Tory statesman, and Prime Minister of Great Britain. He died on 30 October 1809 and was buried in the parish church.

Richard Cosway, RA (5 November 1742 – 4 July 1821) was a leading English portrait painter of the Regency era, noted for his miniatures. He died in London in 1821 and was buried at St Marylebone Parish Church.

The Rt Hon. John Shore, PC, 1st Baron Teignmouth was buried in St Marylebone Parish Church (1834) in Vault 59, where his widow, Charlotte, was also interred some five months later. Both interments were removed to Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey in 1983.

A funeral was held for Eastenders and TV Star Wendy Richard at St Marylebone Parish Church on the 9th March 2009.