The Funeral Procession

Saturday, January 30th, 1965, at 9:35am the bearer party of Grenadier Guards removed the coffin from the Catafalque in Westminster Hall.

The coffin of Sir Winston Churchill was borne on a Gun Carriage drawn by a Gun’s crew of naval ratings. The gun carriage, used for four royal funerals, had been stored at H.M.S. Excellent, the Royal Navy gunnery school at Portsmouth. It was built in 1880 and first used for Queen Victoria’s funeral. The bodies of Edward VII, George V and George VI were carried on it. This was the first time the carriage has been used for the funeral of a commoner.

The Procession under the command of Chief Marshal, Colonel F.J. Jefferson, Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding the Grenadier Guards was taken in Slow Time, 65 paces per minute.

At Westminster a guard of honour was provided by the 1st Battalion Irish Guards, with the regimental Colour of the battalion mounted in New Palace Yard.

As the Procession moved from Westminster to St. Paul’s Cathedral, the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery fired minute guns, from St. James’s Park.

At St. Paul’s Cathedral a guard of honour was mounted by the Royal Air Force and the steps lined by a dismounted detachment from the Household Cavalry.

The 11 o’clock service in St. Paul’s Cathedral was attended by Her Majesty The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh, accompanied by The Prince of Wales, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Members of the Royal Family, Heads of State and Royal Representatives of Heads of State. This distinguished group included, four Kings, three Queens, eight Princes, four Princesses, three Dukes, three Duchesses and five Presidents.

The service included the hymn beginning, ‘Who would true valour see, let him come hither.." and "Fight the good fight with all their might". The Dean and the Archbishop of Canterbury said prayers. The National Anthem was sung and the Last Post sounded and after a brief silence, Reveille.

The 12 Pallbearers, Sir Winston's colleagues of the war, who accompanied the coffin into and out of St. Paul’s were,

- The Right Honourable Mr. Harold Macmillan
- Field Marshall Viscount Slim K.G.
- Marshal of the R.A.F. The Viscount Portal of Hungerford, K.G.
- Earl of Avon, K.G.
- Field Marshall, Sir Gerald Templer K.G.
- The Right Honourable Sir Robert Menzies, K.T.
- The Earl Attlee K.G.
- Field Marshall The Earl Alexander of Tunis, K.G.
- The Lord Normanbrook, G.C.B.
- The Lord Bridges, G.C.B., G.C.V.O., M.C.
- Admiral of the Fleet, The Earl Mountbatten of Burma, K.G.
- The Lord Ismay, K.G.

St. Paul’s Cathedral to Tower Hill.

While the Procession moved from St. Paul’s Cathedral to Tower Hill, minute guns were fired from the Saluting Battery H. M. Tower of London, 1st Regiment, Honourable Artillery Company, Royal Horse Artillery. In total 90 guns were fired, one for each year of Sir Winston’s life.
Ceremonial at Tower Hill included:

• A Guard of Honour, with Colour, mounted by the Royal Marines;

• Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty’s Tower of London kept the ground outside the entrance gate to the Tower.

• 60 massed pipers drawn from the Scots and Irish Guards and the 1st Battalions of The Cameronians, The King’s Own Scottish Borderers and The Inniskilling Fusiliers

• Royal Military Police were on duty.

• The Royal Air Force kept the remainder of the ground of Tower Hill. The gun carriage came to a halt opposite the Royal Marines Guard of Honour. Tower Pier to Festival Pier The bearer party removed the coffin from the gun carriage and preceded by the massed pipers, playing, and the Earl Marshall and followed by the chiefs of staff and the G.O.C. London District, carried the coffin on to Tower Pier.
Ceremonial at Tower Pier and Tower Wharf, commanded by The Lieutenant Colonel Commanding the Scots Guards, included:

• Royal Navy Piping Party
• A Guard of Honour with a Colour mounted by the Royal Navy accompanied by a band of the Royal Marines.
• Saluting Battery of H. M. Tower of London.
Proceeding down Tower Pier the bearer party placed the coffin on the Bier on the after deck of Havengore. The Royal Navy Piping Party piped the coffin aboard and again as the launch drew away from the pier. Havengore wore the Flag of The Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

When the Piping Party were finished the Guard of Honour Presented Arms and the Royal Marines band played. As the music stopped, the Saluting Battery fired a 17-gun salute (quarter charges).

"For some, the most memorable and unexpected moment of the stately ceremonies that marked the end of the Churchillian era then occurred, making the hairs bristle on the napes of the necks of those present. All the cranes on Hay’s wharf on the opposite bank started dipping their long necks, like dinosaurs bowing, in a eerie, unforgettable civilian salute." Philip Howard, London’s River

Further ceremonial included:

• Royal Air Force Fly past.
• Launches and River Escort of Port of London Authority, Trinity House and Thames Division, Metropolitan Police.
For the river passage from Tower Wharf to Festival Pier the family mourners travelled in two launches.

On Havengore, accompanied by the Earl Marshall, travelled Lady Churchill, Mr. Randolph Churchill, Lady Audley, Mrs. Christopher Soames, Mr. Christopher Soames, Mr. Winston Churchill, Mr. Julian Sandys, Mrs. Piers Dixon, Miss Celia Sandys, Mr. Nicholas Soames, Miss Arabella Churchill.

On the second launch, the Thame, travelled Earl and Countess of Avon, Duke of Marlborough, Major John Churchill, Mrs. John Churchill, Mr. Peregrine Churchill, Mrs. Peregrine Churchill, Mr. Piers Dixon, Miss Emma Soames, Miss Charlotte Soames, Mr. Jeremy Soames, Mr. Montague-Browne.

When ‘Havengore’ left Tower Pier the State Procession was concluded, the remainder of the proceedings being private. On arrival at Festival Hall Pier, the coffin was taken by Motor Hearse to Waterloo Station. Here, a bearer party was provided by the Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars, the regiment to which Sir Winston was gazetted, when they were the 4th Hussars, in March 1895.
The Battle of Britain class locomotive, "Winston Churchill", drew the funeral train of Pullman coaches from Waterloo to Long Handborough, near Bladon, Oxfordshire, where Sir Winston was buried privately.

St. Martin’s at Bladon village, the parish church of Blenheim Palace, relatives buried here included Sir Winston’s father and mother.
Even without personal recollections it does not take long to feel the impact of this event. Sir Winston Churchill had lived a long life, he had seized every opportunity at he saw fit and the Queen led her nation in a thankful tribute to his life. With regret and sadness is gratitude and appreciation.

As is often the case in grief, we mourn our future as much as the past, the United Kingdom in 1965 did not want to lose some one who had once shown it the way.
"The shared emotion of the nation took people back to the war and reminded them Churchill was not all that had been lost." The London Illustrated News