Queen Victoria’s funeral.

[Nanna52]

I have just made contact with a cousin through DNA who said that family legend says his great grandfather was a pall bearer at Queen Victoria funeral.
I know that at that stage, from his service records, that he was a sergeant and based in London.
Does anyone know if there were records kept of those who were involved in the parade?

[larkspur]

The state funeral of Queen Victoria took place in February 1901; Victoria left strict instructions regarding the service and associated ceremonies and instituted a number of changes, several of which set a precedent for state funerals that have taken place since. First, she disliked the preponderance of funereal black; henceforward, there would be no black cloaks, drapes or canopy, and Victoria requested a white pall for her coffin. Second, she expressed a desire to be buried as "a soldier's daughter". The procession, therefore, became much more a military procession, with the peers, privy counsellors and judiciary no longer taking part en masse. Her pallbearers were equerries rather than dukes , and for the first time, a gun carriage was employed to convey the monarch's coffin. Third, Victoria requested that there should be no public lying in state. This meant that the only event in London on this occasion was a gun carriage procession from one railway station to another: Victoria having died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, her body was conveyed by boat and train to Waterloo Station, then by gun carriage to Paddington Station and then by train to Windsor for the funeral service itself.

https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/history-on-film-queen-victoria-funeral-procession/

[omega 1]

Hello Nanna52

Found this on Google

The Irish Gazette Announcements of Queen Victoria`s Death and Funeral ,printed Oct 4 2016

Gives the names of 8 Pullbearers and all who attended

Loads to read

omega

[stanmapstone]

These were the official  Pall Bearers

[stanmapstone]

However there were soldier bearers who carried the coffin from the train

[Romilly]

My husband's Great Grandfather was in The Metropolitan Police at the time of Queen Victoria's funeral.

He was awarded a medal for having been in her 'Honour Guard' at the funeral.

Possibly he was chosen for his height? (He was 6' 6").

I have a photograph of him wearing the medal; which l will try to unearth.

Romilly.

[Maiden Stone]

Possibly a distinction between pall-bearers and coffin-bearers. Pall-bearers were ceremonial; coffin-bearers carried the actual coffin.

[Nanna52]

My word such a lot of information there.  Thank you everyone for taking the time to look.

I have had a look at his service record and it looks like he was an acting W Sgt with the Royal Fusiliers at the time.  He had previously been in the Grenadier Guards.