2-888-063 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Exterior of the Church at Drayton Bassett, (funeral of Sir Robert Peel), 1850. '...the funeral proceeded slowly by the circuitous route adopted to the churchyard. In the midst of the most reverent stillness, it passed through the crowd, which all but blocked up the main and only street of Drayton. Then, the tenantry having reached the churchyard wicket, defiled past, and the mourning coaches set down their occupants, who clustered round the gate, waiting to be arranged in the second order of procession, in the midst of which the body was to be carried upon men's shoulders to the church. At this moment the sky again darkened, and a smart shower of rain fell'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.