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The gun carriage

Collection Item C325344

Accession Number: H12222

His Majesty King George V following the limber carrying the coffin of the Unknown Warrior as it leaves the Cenotaph bound for Westminster Abbey.

There appears to be little symbolism attached to the use of a gun carriage to carry the casket in a funeral procession. The gun carriage may have been adopted as a dignified and suitably military way to save soldiers from having to carry the casket. In the mid-1800s, the Queen's Regulations were amended to permit the use of a gun carriage and horses to carry a casket to a burial ground, but only when it was over a mile away. Since those days, the gun carriage has become an accepted part of military and state funerals.

Last updated: 8 December 2020

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