Calling Jon Power

Good day,watched the funeral of Mrs. Thatcher today and was intrigued by the hearse used especially the passenger in the back seat,is this traditional,and could you tell us about the hearse used,as a side note nobody but nobody does a funeral with such split second timing and precision as you Brits,the pomp and ceremony associated with this was definitely first class.

maggy

a great friend of us in the usa. tough as they come. like president bush said at a state of the union address, quote ( we have no better friend than the united kingdom) end quote. canucks, ya'll don't count, your family.

Hi Wayne, the backseats are widely used over here. they are used for carrying pallbearers. The funeral directors were Leverton and sons who were using a Jaguar hearse built by Wilcox.

The iron lady was very divisive during her prime ministership over here but the funeral went by relatively peacefully.

http://www.levertons.co.uk/horsesHearses.htm

http://limousines.co.uk/index.php/about-wilcox-limousines/

Leverton's has an interesting history page:

http://www.levertons.co.uk/levertonsThen.htm

Interior of an early 1930's Buick. Unidentified British coachwork, but it shows the setup you're referring to. The seat you see in the door opening of this coach is a folding jumpseat allowing another one of the pallbearers to climb into what is often a fixed seat behind it. The other side of the car was set up the same way. You can also see a little clearer how the casket table narrows as it goes forward. At the business end, the table would usual be full width.

Just another photo for reference and education. Photo below is from a 1939 Vauxhall hearse currently for sale in the UK.