Today (Jan 5th) is the anniversary of Nelson's three days of lying in state in the Painted Hall at Greenwich, having been killed during his victory at Trafalgar in October 1805. The spot in the Painted Hall where his coffin was put on display as thousands of mourners filed past is marked with this small plaque in the floor. Here are some newspaper accounts from the time of how the public queued, with much pushing and shoving it seems, to get a chance to view the coffin with many having to go home disappointed. This article says there was a "terrible crush" as the "mob" waited to get in. One inside the Painted Hall, the "whole of the view, at the inclosed place, where the coffin stood, was extremely solemn, magnificent, and impressive, people appeared to feel a degree of awe which produced the utmost decorum." The "solemn scene" in the Painted Hall was surrounded by seventeen thousand yards of black cloth and lit by hundreds of wax candles. Nelson's coffin on a bier covered in black cloth with the foot of the coffin uncovered. The town of Greenwich, this report says, was "in confusion" with several hundred hackney carriages and the roads from London thronged with pedestrians. The "alarming scene" of people trying to get in is again described here, with "female shrieks" to be heard all around. "One man had his right eye literally torn out by coming in contact with one of the gate posts." While thousands mourned, entrepreneurs looked to make the most of their properties which would overlook the route of the funeral and these adverts were placed in the Morning Post. These cuttings come from the British Newspaper Archive
