Future Exhibitions

The Regency Way of Death

Autumn/ Winter 2015

Laurie & Whittle (publishers)
The magnificent funeral car built for the sole purpose of conveying the Remains of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson to St Paul's Cathedral, for interment, on Thursday the 9th of January 1806
 

On 22nd November 1815 Eliza Soane, Sir John Soane's wife, died.  Her body 'lay in state' in the Library Dining Room of No.13 Lincoln's Inn Fields.  The coffin was covered with a pall and adorned with black ostrich feathers.  The Library Dining Room was illuminated with wax candles and servants attended the coffin all night.  Sir John Soane ordered mourning clothes for his servants and paid for mourning rings for family and friends as was the custom.  Eliza Soane's funeral echoed in an intimate way the pompa funebris of the great State funerals of more public figures such as that held for  Admiral Lord Nelson in 1806 or King George III in 1820.  This exhibition, timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Eliza Soane's death, will look at the social, cultural and artistic aspects of funerals during the Regency period, a time when approaches to the commemoration of the dead were changing as a result of the Napoleonic Wars. (Further details to be confirmed).