State funeral of Horatio Nelson

Common card · No. 340678

Vice-Admiral of the White Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, was given a state funeral in London on 9 January 1806. It was the first to be held at St Paul's Cathedral and was the grandest of any non-royal person to that date. Nelson was shot and killed on 21 October 1805, aged 47, aboard his flagship, HMS Victory, during the Battle of Trafalgar, part of the Napoleonic Wars. The successful outcome of the battle against a larger Franco-Spanish fleet, secured British naval supremacy and ended the threat of a French invasion of the United Kingdom. Nelson's previous victories meant that he was revered as a national hero and news of his death was met with near universal shock and mourning. The scale of his funeral was not only an expression of public sentiment, but also an attempt by the British Government to improve the perception of its prosecution of the war.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Augustus Charles Pugin, Public domain