Duke of Wellington carriage design to be auctioned

A pencil-drawn design for the funeral carriage of the Duke of Wellington, best known for his defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo in 1815, is to be sold at auction.

Known as the Iron Duke, Wellington was hailed as a military hero and twice served as prime minister. He died in 1852 aged 83.

An original 1852 design for Wellington's funeral carriage, created by the artist Richard Redgrave for Prince Albert, is to be offered for sale at Cheffins auctioneers in Cambridge.

The 26cm by 35cm drawing, in pencil with white highlights, is expected to fetch between £5,000 and £8,000.

The 156-year-old design has been privately owned since 2005 when it was bought for £7,440.

Seller Graham Rust, who is also an artist, said he acquired it as a collector of Redgrave's work and he had a family connection.

Rust, 84, who lives near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, said his distant cousin Evelyn Redgrave was the great-great-granddaughter of Richard Redgrave.

He said the design had hung in his library but he was "in the process of downsizing" and "now feels like the right moment to let it pass to a new custodian".

The complete funeral carriage measured 27ft long (8.2 metres), 10ft (three metres) wide and 17ft (five metres) high. It was pulled by 12 horses, and the cortege was said to have been watched by more than one million people.

Prince Albert oversaw its creation, insisting it should serve as a powerful symbol of British military achievement and statesmanship.

The drawing is inscribed: "First idea of the Wellington Funeral car / this is the drawing shewn (sic) to H.R.H. Prince Albert & approved by him."

Redgrave produced the design at short notice after earlier proposals were rejected.

According to his memoir, when the sketch was presented at Windsor, Prince Albert immediately approved it, declaring: "This is the thing!"

The finished carriage was one of the largest ever constructed, cast from more than 18 tonnes of bronze taken from cannons captured at the Battle of Waterloo.

Reaction to the carriage was mixed, with Queen Victoria recording her admiration for its grandeur - but Charles Dickens criticised it for its ugliness.

Brett Tryner, a director at Cheffins, said: "The Duke of Wellington's state funeral was one of the defining events of the 19th Century, and this drawing is central to that story."

The design will be offered for auction by Cheffins as part of The Fine Sale on 25 March.

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