Westminster Abbey - Image © 2025 Dean and Chapter of Westminster
The Goldsmiths’ Company is honoured to welcome The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle KCVO MBE FSA, 39th Dean of Westminster, to deliver the 2025 Goldsmiths’ Company Lecture - Living in history and the here and now.
History has become fashionable and history has changed. In The History Boys, Alan Bennett wrote: ‘History nowadays is not a matter of conviction. It’s a performance. It’s entertainment’. For some of us though, in a Livery Company with a medieval inheritance, or an Abbey with a Saxon foundation, history is a fact of life. Our history shapes us, informs us and occasionally perhaps constrains us. How do we live with that inheritance? How do we celebrate what is best in our past and speak, as we must, into the life of a modern city? Drawing on experience in the Abbey, including the Coronation, this illustrated lecture will wrestle with the business of telling a long story and telling it well.
About the speaker
David Hoyle was ordained in 1986 and has worked as Dean of Magdalene College, Cambridge, as a Vicar in North London, as a Canon of Gloucester Cathedral and as Dean of Bristol. He was installed as Dean of Westminster in November 2019. Since arriving in Westminster, he has steered the Abbey through the crisis provoked by Covid and played a significant role in the State Funeral of the late Queen and in the Coronation. He has a doctorate in history from Cambridge and has published three books as a historian and theologian. He has had roles in the national church and was chair of the College of English Deans at the time of moving to Westminster. He was awarded an MBE in 2020 for work in Bristol with vulnerable communities and a KCVO in 2024 for his role in the Coronation. He is married with two grown-up children. He is an Honorary Freeman of the Drapers’ Company.
Terms & Conditions:
Tickets for the 2025 Goldsmiths’ Company Lecture are priced at £15 per person, are limited to two per booking, and are non-refundable
Tickets must be booked in the name of the person who is attending - photo ID that matches the name on the booking will be required to gain entry
Goldsmiths’ Company Members (Freemen, Liverymen, Associates) must register their attendance through the Members’ Portal using the link above
The lecture will start at 18:30 promptly, and entry to the Hall will be from 18:00. We respectfully request that you do not arrive before 18:00
Security & bag policy
Goldsmiths’ Hall operates Airport style enhanced security procedures for all public events - these include a bag scanner and a security arch. Suitcases and items larger than a laptop bag are not permitted inside the building. Our cloakroom, situated downstairs, can be used free of charge for coats, bags and umbrellas.
Disabled access to Goldsmiths’ Hall
The main entrance to Goldsmiths’ Hall is on Foster Lane and may not be suitable for visitors who require step-free access. Those who are require level access from street level should ring the bell on Carey Lane, for assistance and access by lift. If you have any concerns or questions about visiting the building, please email us.
The first floor Public Rooms can be accessed by lift from within the ground floor lobby.
A disabled toilet is situated beside the Ground Floor lift on the Ground Floor.