Joseph Chamberlain's Funeral at Key Hill Cemetery

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Date:6th of July 1914

Description:This exhibition contains previously unpublished images. They were not professionally taken and are the only record of the burial of this great man.

Chamberlain, MP and former Lord Mayor of Birmingham, died in London on 2nd July 1914. Prime Minister Herbert Asquith led the tributes from around the world, saying: "In that striking personality, vivid, masterful, resolute, tenacious, there were no blurred or nebulous outlines, there were no relaxed fibres, there were no moods of doubt and hesitation, there were no pauses of lethargy or fear."

His family declined a burial in Westminster Abbey and opted for a Unitarian burial in Birmingham. On 5th July his body was sent on a train from Paddington to Birmingham. The next day he was buried in the family plot at Key Hill Cemetery. This photograph shows the coffin entering the cemetery. At the head stand Chamberlain's two sons Austen and Neville.

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Image courtesy of: Birmingham Libraries

Donor ref:LSH- General Cemetery Photographs BCOL (66/9103)

Source: Birmingham Libraries ,  Woodview Primary School

Copyright information: Copyrights to all resources are retained by the individual rights holders. They have kindly made their collections available for non-commercial private study & educational use. Re-distribution of resources in any form is only permitted subject to strict adherence to the usage guidelines.