The Funeral Procession of Lord Viscount Nelson to St. Paul's Cathedral, Jany 9 1806

Linen handkerchief - Nelson's funeral, 1806

Nelson's body was preserved in a barrel of spirits after he was killed at the battle of Trafalgar. His coffin was constructed of salvaged mast timbers from L'Orient, the French flagship blown up at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. For three days, the body lay in state in the Painted Chamber at the Royal Hospital, Greenwich, until it was taken up-river to Whitehall in the barge of the Victory. On 9 January 1806, a specially constructed funeral car, the lower portion imitating the hull of the Victory, carried Nelson's body past thousands of mourning Londoners to St Paul's for burial.