484 



Biographical Melnoirs of Eminent Persons. 



the car. Only an instant before, Mr. Hus- 

 kisson had turned from a gentleman, ex- 

 claiming " Well, I must go and shake 

 hands with the Duke of Wellington on this 

 day at any rate." He did shake hands with 

 him very cordially. The rapid approach of 

 the car placed several persons in jeopardy ; 

 amongst them, Mr. Huskisson, who, from 

 the narrowness of the way, was apprehensive 

 of being crushed between the two machines. 

 There were no steps by which to ascend the 

 car ; and, in the consequent confusion, Mr. 

 Huskisson, in a second attempt to climb 

 over the side, seized hold of the door, which 

 gave way, and he was precipitated into the 

 road, his right leg doubled up and getting 

 across the rail-road of the Rocket, which 

 instantaneously passed over the leg and 

 thigh in that position. From its velocity, 

 it had been impossible to stop the Rocket 

 in time. Lord Wilton and others rushed 

 to the spot ; the door of one of the Com- 

 pany's adjacent hovels was procured ; and, 

 having placed the sufferer upon it, they 

 obtained the instant aid of Dr. Brandreth 

 of Liverpool, and Dri Hunter of Edinburgh, 

 ^ho happened to be in the procession. A 

 temporary tourniquet having been applied 

 to the thigh, he was immediately conveyed, 

 upon one of the engines, to the house of the 

 Rev. Mr. Blackburne, at Eccles. There 

 he was laid up&n a couch ; but it was found 

 unsafe to attempt amputation; arid, as no 

 favourable rallying of the system occurred,., 

 his sufferings were terminated by death at 

 nine in the evening. He had previously 

 made some alteration in his will, and had 

 received the sacrament, evincing the utmost 

 fortitude and resignation. As soon as it 

 was ascertained that he was dead, Mrs. 

 Huskisson, who had witnessed the fatal 

 accident, and had never for a moment left 

 his side, was removed, almost by force, into 

 another apartment. On the following morn- 

 ing an inquest was held upon the body ; a 

 proceeding which perfectly exonerated the 

 conductors of the Rocket from all imputa- 

 tion of blame. 



Under . the dreadful circumstances of the 

 case, the Duke of Wellington most properly 

 declined attendance at the splendid dinner, 

 which had been provided in honour of his 

 visit at Liverpool. 



On Saturday, the body was privately con- 

 veyed from Eccles to Liverpool ; and it was 

 subsequently arranged that it should be in- 

 terred in the new cemetery there, at the 

 expense of the town. A subscription was 

 opened for defraying the expenses of the 

 funeral, and for raising a monument to the 

 memory of the deceased. To those arrange- 

 ments, Mrs. Huskisson was with difficulty 

 prevailed on to assent. The funeral took 

 place on Friday, the 24th of September, and 

 we extract the following account of it from 

 the Liverpool Mercury. 



" The funeral, which has just terminated, 

 was one of the most extraordinary public 



spectacles ever witnessed in thitf country ; 

 and, indeed, we heard some gentlemen who 

 have attended a Royal funeral at Windsor, 

 declare, that of our deceased member was a 

 more imposing sight of the two. The num- 

 ber of spectators sets all calculation at de- 

 fiance. The windows of every house in the 

 long line of the procession, and the roofs of 

 many of them, were filled with spectators. 

 In St. Peter's church-yard the Blue-coat 

 Hospital children were stationed, while the 

 church windows were crowded. The belfry, 

 and the steeple also, contained as many as 

 it could hold. Each lamp-post had its 

 occupant, and the trees in front of the 

 Lyceum, and in St. Mark's church-yard, 

 were bowed down with persons clinging to 

 every branch. 



" The procession itself, which swelled as 

 it proceeded, has been calculated, by a com- 

 petent judge, to amount to upwards of 

 sixteen hundred gentlemen in mourning. 

 Outside of the railings, within which this 

 procession moved, it has been calculated 

 that there were upwards of sixty thousand 

 spectators between the Exchange and the 

 Cemetery. We shall not guess at the 

 number of persons within the Cemetery. 

 Every place where there was standing-room 

 was occupied, and it is supposed that there 

 were from twenty to thirty thousand persons 

 looking on or endeavouring to get a sight 

 of the ceremony. The procession set out 

 from the Town-hall, at about a quarter past 

 ten o'clock, and reached its destination in 

 about an hour. 



' ' One signal gun was fired when the 

 body was put into the hearse, and another 

 when the corpse entered the gates of the 

 Cemetery. 



" All the arrangements, which we can 

 only glance at en passant, were admirable, 

 and reflect equal credit upon the managing 

 committee, the police, the undertaker, and 

 upon the great body of the people, who 

 behaved in the most orderly and becoming 

 manner. 



" When the procession arrived at the 

 Cemetery, the great majority of the gentle- 

 men who formed it descended through the 

 arch into the lower ground, where they took 

 their stand on the gravel walks, whilst 

 about one hundred and fifty of the party, 

 including the committee, clergymen, and 

 some of the gentlemen connected with the 

 press, entered with the hearse into the 

 Grecian Chapel, where the funeral ceremony 

 was performed with great solemnity and 

 effect by the Rev. Jonathan Brooks. 



" The reading of the burial service occu- 

 pied about twelve minutes, after which the 

 committee, clergy, and those who were ad- 

 mitted into the chapel, moved slowly out, 

 and descending the stone archway, re- 

 paired slowly and solemnly to the burying- 

 ground 'below, in the centre lawn. The 

 sight from this place, looking upwards, was 

 peculiarly striking. When the Rev. Mr. 



