3-086-355 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Funeral of Mr. Gladstone, 1898. View of the Palace of Westminster in London, and the midnight vigil in Westminster Hall where the body lay in state. '...during two days all sorts and conditions of men flocked to pay their final tribute of respect to the foremost Englishman of his time. From six in the morning till, eight in the evening of both days Westminster Hall was open to all comers, and when at sunset the doors were closed a band of watchers, organised by Canon Wilberforce, kept guard all night long by the honoured remains. The midnight scene beside the bier - portrayed in these pages by our Special Artist - was weirdly impressive. In the dim Hall, lighted only by a few flambeaux, the watchers stood or knelt. Every two hours the guard was relieved'. British Prime Minister William Eward Gladstone (born 1809) died on 19 May 1898, and was buried in Westminster Abbey on 26 May. From "Illustrated London News", 1898.