Nelson's funeral, January 1806

On 8 January, 1806, the funeral procession for Admiral Lord Nelson began its journey up the Thames from Greenwich. Placed on the royal barge, built for Charles II, the coffin rested beneath a black canopy surmounted by black ostrich feathers.

Nelson’s body was enclosed in a lead coffin which in turn was placed in a wooden coffin made from the mast of L’Orient, salvaged after the Battle of the Nile. The funeral barge was accompanied by a flotilla of 60 boats while huge crowds flocked to London to attend the five days of ceremonies at Greenwich, on the River Thames, in the streets of London and at St Paul’s Cathedral.

Charles II's funeral barge can be seen at the the Portsmouth Naval Museum.