The Dean of Westminster is the head of the chapter at Westminster Abbey. Due to the abbey's status as a royal peculiar, the dean answers directly to the British monarch (not to the Bishop of London as ordinary, nor to the Archbishop of Canterbury as metropolitan). Initially, the office was a successor to that of Abbot of Westminster, and was for the first 10 years cathedral dean for the Diocese of Westminster. The current dean is David Hoyle.
| Name | Portrait | Term of office | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| William Benson (formerly last abbot of the Benedictine abbey) | 1540 | 1549 | ||
| Richard Cox | 1549 | 1553 | ||
| Hugh Weston | 1553 | 1556 | ||
| Vacancy (restored as Benedictine abbey) John Feckenham, abbot | 1556 | 1559 | ||
| William Bill | 1560 | 1561 | ||
| Gabriel Goodman | 1561 | 1601 | ||
| Lancelot Andrewes | 1601 | 1605 | ||
| Richard Neile (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester from 1608) | 1605 | 1610 | ||
| George Montaigne | 1610 | 1617 | ||
| Robert Tounson | 1617 | 1620 | ||
| John Williams (in commendam as Bishop of Lincoln 1621–41, as Archbishop of York from 1641) | 1620 | 1644 | ||
| Richard Steward (not installed) | 1644 | 1651 | ||
| Vacancy (English Interregnum) | 1651 | 1660 | ||
| John Earle | 1660 | 1662 | ||
| John Dolben (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester from 1666[1]) | 1662 | 1683 | ||
| Thomas Sprat (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester from 1684) | 1683 | 1713 | ||
| Francis Atterbury (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester) | 1713 | 1723 | ||
| Samuel Bradford (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester) | 1723 | 1731 | ||
| Joseph Wilcocks (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester) | 1731 | 1756 | ||
| Zachary Pearce (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester) | 1756 | 1768 | ||
| John Thomas (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester from 1774) | 1768 | 1793 | ||
| Samuel Horsley (in commendam as Bishop of Rochester) | 1793 | 1802 | ||
| William Vincent | 1802 | 1815 | ||
| John Ireland | 1816 | 1842 | ||
| Thomas Turton | 1842 | 1845 | ||
| Samuel Wilberforce | March–October 1845 | |||
| William Buckland | 1845 | 1856 | ||
| Richard Chenevix Trench | 1856 | 1864 | ||
| Arthur Penrhyn Stanley | 1864 | 1881 | ||
| George Granville Bradley | 1881 | 1902 | ||
| Armitage Robinson | 1902 | 1911 | ||
| Herbert Edward Ryle | 1911 | 1925 | ||
| William Foxley Norris | 1925 | 1937 | ||
| Paul de Labilliere | 1938 | 1946 | ||
| Alan Don | 1946 | 1959 | ||
| Eric Abbott | 1959 | 1974 | ||
| Edward Carpenter | 1974 | 1985 | ||
| Michael Mayne | 1986 | 1996 | ||
| Wesley Carr | 1997 | 2006 | ||
| John Hall | 2006 | 2019 | ||
| David Hoyle | 2019 | Present | ||
Book: Horn. Joyce M.. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541-1857. 7. 69–71. Deans of Westminster. 12 September 2019.