This memorial has been moved to the south aisle of the choir from a nave chapel that is now lost. It depicts two brothers, Thomas and Alexander Nevil (variously Neville, Nevile, etc), Thomas on the left and his brother Alexander on the right. Thomas became Master of Trinity College Cambridge, an appointment which proved to be to their gain and Canterbury’s loss as Thomas gave many priceless manuscripts to the College from the cathedral library. He served as Dean of Canterbury (1597-1615) and was a generous benefactor to Eastbridge Hospital.
What to see:
- two brothers kneeling in prayer with their name-punning family motto Ne vile velis (Incline to nothing base) and a lengthy Latin inscription between them
- Dean Thomas Nevil in choir habit and Cambridge Doctor of Divinity hood
- Alexander dressed in armour, which seems odd as ODNB describes him as a scholar whose main claim to fame was a Latin text describing Kett’s rebellion of 1549
Sources: see standard cathedral sources; also Cowper (1900) and ODNB
DL