3-071-294 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Funeral of the late Mr. W. Spottiswoode, F.R.S., in Westminster Abbey, 1883. '1. The Grave. 2. The Clergy. 3. The Mourners. 4. The Coffin. The late President of the Royal Society, Mr. William Spottiswoode, received the honours of a public funeral in Westminster Abbey on Thursday last week. The grave prepared for him was near that of one of his ancestors, Spottiswoode, Bishop of St. Andrew's, who died in 1639. It is situated at the north-east part of the south transept, close to Poet's Corner. The coffin was brought from Grosvenor-place, where Mr. Spottiswoode had resided, in a funeral car drawn by four horses, and followed by eight mourning-carriages with the family and friends, and by numerous private carriages. The mourners assembled in the Jerusalem Chamber, and the funeral entered the Abbey through the west cloister door...The congregation separated whilst the notes of the "Dead March" in "Saul" were pealing through the aisles'. From "Illustrated London News", 1883.