RECORD: Anon. 1882. Funeral of the late Mr. Charles Darwin. Stratford-upon-Avon Herald (28 April): 5.

REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe 4.2023. RN1

NOTE: Reprinted in the Derby Mercury (3 May 1882).


[page] 5

Another great name has been inscribed upon the long roll of Englishmen, who, amidst all the public honours that can attend the burial of the illustrious dead, have found a last resting place within the venerable walls of Westminster Abbey.

On Wednesday morning, in the presence of a vast assemblage of spectators, including numerous distinguished statesmen and men of science and letters, the mortal remains pf Charles Darwin were deposited in the simple grave prepared, as already described, for their reception in the north aisle. On the previous evening the body had been removed in a plain hearse from Downe Court, Kent─ a hilly journey of sixteen miles by road─followed by two of the five sons of the deceased, Mr. William Erasmus Darwin, the chief mourner, and Mr. George Darwin. Arrived at the Abbey, in the dusk of evening, the coffin was at once placed in the chapel of St. Faith, which lies unobserved, and even unnoticed by the official guide books, at the back of the southern transept, better known as Poets' Corner. In this lofty and solemn stone chamber, lighted up by one or two lamps, it was, according to custom, guarded all night by the officials of the Abbey, and at a quarter before noon on Wednesday was removed into the adjoining passage, between the Chapter House and the east cloister, where, under the low groined roof, it remained while the procession was forming. The body was inclosed in the customary shell within a leaden coffin, which again was laid in an outer coffin of smooth, but unpolished oak of a pale tint and covered with numerous wreaths, which, it was observed, included not merely the customary combination of milk-white flowers and delicate ferns, but also wreaths of blossoms of many hues, suggestive of the re-awakening of nature in the spring. The plate bore the simple inscription,

"Charles Robert Darwin. Born February 12, 1809. Died April 19, 1882"

The numerous concourse of invited mourners and others, as distinguished from the members of the family and immediate connections of the deceased who had assembled in the Jerusalem Chamber, had mostly gathered in the Chapter House, where the main body of the procession was formed. The pall-bearers were the Duke of Argyll, the Duke of Devonshire, the Earl of Derby, Sir Joseph Hooker, Mr. J. R. Lowell, the American Minister, Mr. Spottiswood, President of the Royal Society, Professor Huxley, Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace, Canon Farrar, and Sir John Lubbock, M. P.


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Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)

File last updated 26 April, 2023