A scarce variant of Darwin’s funeral card, issued to his cousin, Clarke Hawkshaw. This is one of only 33 passes printed on purple card allowing the bearer admission to the Jerusalem Chamber at 11 o’clock. The majority of the mourners who processed behind the coffin were assembled in the Chapter House. Only the family and closest friends and mourners were invited to congregate in the Jerusalem Chamber.
At the time of his death, Darwin’s fame was such that his most loyal acolytes, Huxley, Galton et al lobbied parliament for his burial at Westminster Abbey. Although, “getting a freethinker into the Abbey was not easy” (Desmond & Moore, p.666), Huxley’s efforts were aided by the press and the President of the Royal Society, William Spottiswoode. Permission was quickly granted.
The funeral for the author of “the most important single work in science” (Dibner) was a huge occasion. The pall bearers included Sir Joseph Hooker, Alfred Russel Wallace, US Ambassador James Russell Lowell, and William Spottiswoode. “While the great and the good, who processed behind the coffin, gathered in the Chapter House at midday, only thirty-three cards allowed admission to the Jerusalem Chamber, an hour earlier: The Darwins and Wedgwoods queued in the Jerusalem Chamber, thirty-three in all, including Galton. William, the principal mourner, stood at their head, Parslow and Jackson [Darwin’s former and current butler] behind the family“ (ibid). Darwin was laid to rest at the north end of the choir screen next to John Herschel and near Isaac Newton.
Copies of the cards, printed on white, allowing entry to the Chapter House the Choir, and the South Transept, occasionally appear on the market. This is the only example of the Jerusalem Chamber card that we can trace.
Desmond, A & Moore, J., Darwin Norton, 1994; Dibner, B., Heralds of Science (Smithsonian, 1980), p.199.
