Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, died on 14 September 1852, aged 83. He was the commander of British forces and their allies in the Peninsular War and at the Battle of Waterloo, which finally ended the Napoleonic Wars, and served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Although Wellington's political career had led to his unpopularity because of his opposition to the Great Reform Act, in old age it was his military career which was remembered and he was revered as a national hero. His state funeral on 18 November at St Paul's Cathedral in London was the grandest of any in Britain during the 19th century.Allis 2012, p. 105
Death
In his last years, Wellington lived at Walmer Castle on the Kent coast, the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, an honorary appointment which he had held since 1829.Holmes 2003, pp. 298-279 On 13 September 1852, the 83 year-old duke had risen early, played with his visiting grandchildren and eaten venison for dinner. His valet woke him at 6 am on the following morning, but an hour later, a maid reported strange noises suggesting that he was ill. At 9 am, Dr Hulke, an apothecary arrived, who suggested a cup of tea, but this brought on a seizure. Treatments tried by Hulke, assisted by his son and the local doctor, included an emetic, poultices applied to the legs and tickling the jaw with a feather. At about 2 pm, the Duke's valet suggested that he might be more comfortable in an arm chair, rather than the military camp bed in which he always slept, but the duke died after the move,Holmes 2003, p. 293 at 3:25 pm.Longford 1975, p. 490 Urgent telegraphs had been sent to London, requesting the attendance of eminent surgeons Sir William Fergusson and John Robert Hume, but they were both in Scotland; a Dr Williams was dispatched instead, but arrived too late to assist.Gleig 1865, p. 457
His body was embalmed before being sealed in his coffin, and remained in his bedroom at Walmer while preparations for the funeral began.Hibbert 1997, p. 399 During this time, the coffin was guarded by detachments from the Rifle Brigade, a regiment in which Wellington held the ceremonial post of colonel-in-chief.Gleig 1865, p. 458 On 9 and 10 November local people were allowed to pay their respects; some 9,000 queued on the beach at Walmer to file past the coffin inside the castle.Holmes 2003, p. 297
Preparations Wellington had expressed a wish that he be buried at Walmer, but at Queen Victoria's insistence, planning for a great state funeral started at once, to be financed by the sum of £100,000 voted through by Parliament (). During that process, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Benjamin Disraeli, delivered an eloquent eulogy to the House of Commons praising Wellington's character and achievements; this was marred when it was found that part of the speech had been plagiarised from an 1829 panegyric given by Adolphe Thiers for Marshal Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr.Maxwell 1884, pp. 465-470
Victoria also stipulated that Wellington be interred at St Paul's Cathedral, alongside Britain's other great Napoleonic War hero, Lord Nelson. While preparations were in hand, the Queen also felt that the Duke should not be left without funeral rites for such a long time and accordingly, the Funeral Service from the Book of Common Prayer was read over the coffin at Walmer with only the Duke's close relatives present and the text was not used at the later public service in St Paul's.Garlick 1998, p. 114 Meanwhile, special lighting and temporary wooden galleries to accommodate 10,000 people were installed in the cathedral itself,Quinn 2015, Introduction p. xii while some of the windows were painted black with the intention of creating an atmosphere of gloom.Burns 2004, p. 384
The Poet Laureate, Alfred Tennyson, wrote a lengthy poem, Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington, which he completed and had printed by 16 November, two days before the funeral. The work had not been commissioned, but was written "because it was expected". It received mixed critical reviews.
Funeral car
The original design for Wellington's hearse had been commissioned from the royal undertakers, Messers Ranting of St James, but the submitted proposal was rejected by the Earl Marshal, Henry Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk, who was responsible for the ceremonial aspects of the funeral. The project then passed to the Department of Practical Art, where Henry Cole and Richard Redgrave collaborated on a new design with German architect Gottfried Semper. The concept was inspired by the putative reconstruction of Alexander the Great's funeral car by French archeologist Quatremère de Quincy.Garlick 1998, pp. 116 & 120-121 It was to be substantially built, being intended to be preserved for posterity. The final design was personally approved by Prince Albert.
The enormous carriage measured long, wide and tall, the main body of which was cast in 12 tons of solid bronze, said to have been sourced from French cannons captured at the Battle of Waterloo.Laqueur 2015, p. 334 It was supported on six large wheels, none of which were steerable, decorated with lion's heads and dolphins.Garlick 1998, p. 117 The coffin rested on a high bier, itself mounted on a podium decorated with panels bearing the names of Wellington's victories. Around this podium were mounted military colours and trophies of arms composed of real weapons from the Royal Armouries at the Tower of London. Four large posts at the corners, made to resemble halberds, supported a canopy of embroidered Indian fabric. These halberds were able to be lowered so that the car would be able to pass under Temple Bar, the gatehouse which spanned the roadway on the route to St Paul's. The immense weight of the Duke's quadruple coffin, made of pine, oak, lead and mahogany,Muir 2015, p. 569 required another mechanism which could rotate the bier to allow it to be dismounted. It was to be drawn by a team of twelve horses in ranks of three.
The whole project, from design to manufacture, was completed in three weeks, which was hailed as a triumph of British industry.Garlick 1998, p. 116 Critical reaction to the funeral car was varied; Victoria described it as "very gorgeous" and the Illustrated London News said that it was "magnificent" and "a wonderful proof of English capacity". However, the diarist Charles Greville called it "tawdry, cumbrous and vulgar", while the essayist and historian Thomas Carlyle wrote that it was a "monstrous bronze mass" and an "incoherent muddle of expensive palls, flags, sheets and poles... more like one of the street carts that hawk doormats than a bier for a hero".Garlick 1998, p. 120
Lying in state
At 6 pm the evening of 10 November, Wellington's coffin was taken by hearse in a torchlight procession to Deal railway station, escorted by the Rifle Brigade and with minute guns being fired from Walmer, Deal and Sandown Castles. The funeral train reached Bricklayers Arms railway station in Southwark at 12.30 am, from where the hearse was escorted by a squadron of the Life Guards to the Royal Hospital Chelsea, where the Duke was to lie in state; the coffin was placed in the Great Hall at 3 am.Gleig 1865, pp. 458-459 The hall had previously been draped with black cloth to resemble a large tent and was lit only by candles, mounted on four rows of large candelabras. At the far end of the hall, the coffin, covered in red velvet, was mounted on a dais under a black canopy, surrounded by twelve more candelabras and the Duke's batons.Longford 1975, pp. 491-492 The coffin was guarded by Yeomen of the Guard and Grenadier Guards, with reversed arms.Colburn's 1852, p. 592
Before the hall was opened to the public, it was visited by Queen Victoria, along with Albert and their children; the Queen was overcome with emotion and had to be assisted out.Gleig 1865, p. 459 After the Chelsea Pensioners had been allowed to pay their respects, many of whom had served under Wellington, followed by parties of Guards and some local schools, the public were admitted.Colburn's 1852, pp. 592-593 The queue stretched back as far as Ebury Square near Victoria Station and entailed a wait of up to five and a half hours.Richardson 2001, p. 277 Such were the crowds that two women, Sarah Bean and Charlotte Cooke,Sinnema 2000, p. 37 were crushed to death on 13 November.Colburn's 1852, p. 593
On 17 November, the hall closed at 5 pm. The Metropolitan Police estimated the number of visitors on the final day at 55,800. The total number over the five days was estimated at almost half a million. Shortly after 9 pm, a hearse escorted by Life Guards arrived to transfer the coffin to Horse Guards. On the same day, heavy rain combined with a storm surge in the River Thames caused record flooding in parts of London, an event that became known as "the Duke of Wellington’s Flood".
Procession
Wellington's coffin was placed overnight in his former office at Horse Guards, before being transferred in the early morning to the funeral car, which was parked in a temporary pavilion just outside. Before dawn, troops began to assemble for the procession, six battalions of infantry on Horse Guards Parade, eight squadrons of cavalry and seventeen artillery pieces in St James's Park; a total of some 10,000 men. Included were representatives of each regiment of the British Army, as well officers representing the presidency armies of the East India Company. Also included were carriages carrying Wellington's relatives, senior British and allied officers and members of the royal family, the foremost being Prince Albert.Maxwell 1865, p. 470-471
At 8 am accompanied by the firing of minute guns, the procession began to move off, under the command of Prince George, Duke of Cambridge. The funeral car, drawn by draft horses borrowed from a brewery,Longford 1975, p. 493 was preceded by the Band of the Grenadier Guards playing Handel's Dead March in Saul and other funereal music. The Duke's distinctive cocked hat and sword were mounted on the pall-covered coffin. Following behind was a groom leading the Duke's horse, with boots reversed in the stirrups. Although there had been some early rain, the sun broke through as the procession started. The route took the parade past Buckingham Palace, up Constitution Hill to Hyde Park Corner, then along Piccadilly, St James's Street and Pall Mall. After passing through Trafalgar Square it entered the Strand, then Fleet Street and Ludgate Hill to St Paul's. Following tradition, Victoria did not attend the funeral, but watched the procession from Buckingham Palace before going to St James's Palace to see it pass for a second time.Muir 2015, p. 572