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.
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. 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 apothacary 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 a 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 old man died after the move, at 3:25 pm. 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.
His body was embalmed before being sealed in his coffin, and remained in his bedroom at Walmer while preparations for the funeral began. 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. 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.
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 £10,000 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 Saint-Cyr.
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. Meanwhile, special lighting and temporary wooden galleries to accommodate 10,000 people were installed in the cathedral itself, while some of the windows were painted black with the intention of creating an atmosphere of gloom.
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, the 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. It was to be substantially built, being intended to be preserved for posterity. The final design was personally approved by Albert, Prince Consort.