SIR HENRY HALFORD’S ACCOUNT OF THE OPENING OF THE TOMB OF CHARLES I

For many years the exact place in which King Henry VIIl’s body had been placed, King Charles I was buried after his execu- and besides the coffin of King Henry VIII tion was doubtful, although it had been there were found to be two other coffins in accurately described by one of the grooms the vault, one of Jane Seymour and the of his bedchamber, Mr. Herbert. King other that of Charles I. The Prince Regent Charles II had endeavored to find his in order to clear up any doubt as to the father’s body with the view of reinterring correctness of the latter supposition or- it with suitable ceremonies to compensate dered that the coffin be opened and the body for the indignities shown on its previous examined. This was done on April 1, 1813, burial. It was known that he had been in the presence of the Prince Regent and interred somewhere in St. George’s Chapel several other persons. at Windsor, but during the Cromwellian Sir Henry Halford, who was among these, regime this chapel had undergone so many wrote an account of the circumstances and alterations that those who sought for the of his examination of the body which is tomb were baffled. In 1813, however, in published among his collection of essays making some alterations under the choir and addresses. The event has so much of the chapel an opening was accidentally historic interest and the written account of made through the wall of the vault in which it is so rare, that we here reproduce the essential portions of it with a drawing sioned by the simplicity and truth of Mr. made of the king’s head as it appeared when Herbert’s narrative, every part of which had exhumed. been confirmed by the investigation so far as it had advanced, and it will not be denied that On removing the pall, a plain leaden coffin the shape of the face, the forehead, an eye, and with no appearance of ever having been inclosed the beard, are the most important features by in wood, and bearing an inscription “King which resemblance is determined. Charles, 1648,” in large, legible characters, on a scroll of lead encircling it, immediately pre- sented itself to the view. A square opening was then made in the upper part of the lid, of such dimensions as to admit a clear insight into its contents. These were, an internal wooden coffin, very much decayed, and the body care- fully wrapped up in cere-cloth, into the folds of which a quantity of unctuous or greasy mat- ter mixed with resin, as it seemed, had been melted, so as to exclude, as effectually as pos- sible, the external air. The coffin was completely full; and from the tenacity of the cere-cloth, great difficulty was experienced in detaching it successfully from the parts which it enveloped. Wherever the unctuous matter had insinuated itself, the separation of the cere-cloth was easy; and when it came off, a correct impression of the features to which it had been applied was ob- served in the unctuous substance. At length, the whole face was disengaged from its cover- ing. The complexion of the skin of it was dark and discoloured. The forehead and temples had lost little or nothing of their muscular sub- stance; the cartilage of the nose was gone; but the left eye, in the first moment of exposure, was open and full, though it vanished almost immediately; and the pointed beard, so char- acteristic of the period of the reign of King Charles, was perfect. The shape of the face was a long oval; many of the teeth remained; and the left ear, in consequence of the inter- When the head had been entirely disengaged position of the unctuous matter between it from the attachments which confined it, it was and the cere-cloth, was found entire. found to be loose, and, without any difficulty It was difficult, at this moment, to withhold was taken up and held to view. It was quite a declaration, that, notwithstanding its dis- wet, and gave a greenish red tinge to paper and figurement, the countenance did bear a strong to linen which touched it. The back part of resemblance to the coins, the busts and espe- the scalp was entirely perfect, and had a remark- cially to the pictures of King Charles I by ably fresh appearance; the pores of the skin Vandyke by which it had been made familiar being more distinct, as they usually are when to us. It is true, that the minds of the spectators soaked in moisture; and the tendons and liga- of this interesting sight were well prepared to ments of the neck were of considerable substance receive this impression; but it is also certain and firmness. The hair was thick at the back that such a facility of belief had been occa- part of the head, and, in appearance, nearly black. A portion of it, which has since been above record, who was born in 1766 and cleaned and dried, is of a beautiful dark brown died in 1844, had the largest and most colour. That of the beard was a redder brown. fashionable practice in the London of his On the back part of the head it was more than time. He was vulgarly known as “the eel- an inch in length, and had probably been cut so backed baronet” because of the means he short for the convenience of the executioner, employed to ingratiate himself in royal or perhaps by the piety of friends soon after favor. His real name was Vaughan; he had death, in order to furnish memorials of the unhappy king. changed it to Halford in 1809 on receiving On holding up the head to examine the place a large bequest from a relative who bore the of separation from the body, the muscles of latter surname. In the same year he was the neck had evidently retracted themselves made a baronet. He was physician to considerably; and the fourth cervical vertebra George III, George IV, and William IV. was found to be cut through its substance When George III died, Sir Henry rode transversely, leaving the surfaces of the divided posthaste from the royal deathbed to notify portions perfectly smooth and even, an appear- his brother of his accession. He was presi- ance which could have been produced only by dent of the College of Physicians from 1820 a heavy blow, inflicted with a very sharp in- until his death. He is said to have retained strument, and which furnished the last proof in his possession the fourth cervical vertebra wanting to identify King Charles the First. of Charles I and to have been in the habit After this examination of the head, which of producing it at his dinner tabic, showing served every purpose in view, and without ex- it to his guests as a It is curious amining the body below the neck, it was im- curiosity. mediately restored to its situation, the coflin that apparently no microscopic examina- was soldered up again, and the vault closed. tion was made to ascertain the character of the supposed bloodstains. Sir Henry Halford, the author of the Franci s R. Packa rd .