If you follow any naval history accounts, you can’t have failed to see that #OTD 1806 was the funeral of Horatio Nelson.

So time to join in with a short history of what was, for the time, an incredibly extraordinary day...

Thread.

After his death at Trafalgar it was agreed, by the King, not only that Nelson should receive a state funeral but that he would be buried at St Paul’s Cathedral.

The Prince of Wales announced that he wished to be the chief mourner but, after both the government & King disagreed and felt it improper, it was decided that the pall bearers would be senior naval officers.

The chief mourner would be either the First Lord or Sir Peter Parker.

Horatio Nelson’s body was still, at this point, preserved in a barrel of spirits, having been operated on by Beatty, the surgeon of HMS Victory, who wanted to find the musket ball that led to his death.

Now part of the Royal Collection - https://www.rct.uk/collection/61158/the-nelson-bullet

The decision was made for him to be buried in a coffin, made some years before, from the wood of L’Orient. The French flagship at the Battle of the Nile.

The coffin was taken out to the Nore, where Nelson’s body was to be placed in to it, in order for him to arrive at Greenwich in dignity.

His face was swollen and so it was agreed, due to having unrecognisable features, it would remain covered whilst he lay in state at Greenwich.

On Dec 23rd, Nelson’s coffin, was placed on the dockyard yacht, Chatham.

As they sailed back up the river, all forts & ships flew their colours at half mast & fired minute guns.

They reached Greenwich on Christmas Eve, telling locals who had congregated they planned to land the coffin the following Thursday.

That evening, the coffin was brought ashore. The date for the funeral was chosen on Dec 27th and it was to be the 9th of January, 1806.

Invites for the funeral were sent out. One notable "no" despite being asked twice, was Sir John Jervis. 1st Earl of St Vincent...

He felt that Nelson leaving Emma as a legacy to his country “threw a shade on the lustre of his services” beforegoing on to say “that infernal bitch Lady H could have made him poison his wife and stab me, his best friend”.

The second funeral invitation was supposedly declined due to an eye infection, which did not stop him going riding the day after the funeral… for 3 hours...

18 other Admirals also declined, claiming poor health, gout, or colds. 36 did attend, including Sir Peter Parker, who acted as chief mourner, and Lord Hood, who was then 80 years old.

The crowds gathered at Greenwich from January 4th to see Nelson laying in state and it’s estimated that over 20,000 people came to pay their respects.

On Jan 8th, a crowd gathered to see the body embarked to be taken upriver to Whitehall as part of a procession of barges.

On the day of the funeral, supposedly 30,000 troops lined the route from 8 in the morning, prior to the departure from the Admiralty at 11.

People who didn't have tickets for the funeral had been sat outside St Paul’s Cathedral in the cold since 7 that morning.

Nelson’s body was drawn in a carriage, shaped fore and aft like the Victory, drawn by horses, and it took 3.5 hours for the 2 mile long procession to reach St Paul’s Cathedral.

At St Pauls, an amphitheatre had been built to seat 7000. Across the doorway were captured French & Spanish ensigns from Trafalgar.

Musicians played the 104th psalm – “There go the ships & threes that Leviathan” and by the time the service began it was dark and lit by lanterns.

At 1730, the body was lowered twenty feet in to a sarcophagus, initially made for Cardinal Wolsey, then seized by Henry VIII.

The Garter Kings of Arms recited Nelson’s British, Sicilian, Turkish & German titles and ranks over his grave.

His staves of office as Knight, Baron and Viscount were broken & thrown below with his body, along with flags and ensigns from HMS Victory.

48 of her crew tore parts of this in the cathedral so that they had a piece to keep.

St Pauls was filled with people until gone 9 at night and people were charged a shilling to view Nelson’s tomb.

The funeral cost approximately £14,000 to organise.

I'll let you work that out in today's money!

The tomb is now surrounded by the graves of many other naval officers including his close friend and second in command at Trafalgar, Vice-Admiral Collingwood.