During the Victorian Era, funerals for well-established citizens of society were elaborate affairs. For many wealthy and respected individuals, hundreds of people could be in attendance. There were also prescribed periods of mourning in Victorian England. Each member of a deceased's family had a specific prescribed period of mourning, whether it be parents, children, widows, or grandparents. In Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost, an impressive funeral is held in honor of Sir Simon: "The hearse was drawn by eight horses, each of which carried on its head a great tuft of nodding ostrich-plumes, and the leaden coffin was covered by a rich pall, on which was embroidered in gold the Canterville coat-of-arms" (Chapter VII).
Cook, Richard B. "The Grand Old Man, or the Life and Public Services of the Right Honourable William Ewart Gladstone, Four Times Prime Minister of England." The Victorian Web, https://victorianweb.org/history/pms/gladfuneral.html. Accessed 11 December 2023.
Scott, Sir George Gilbert, R.A. "Personal and Professional Recollections." The Victorian Web, https://victorianweb.org/art/architecture/scott/funeral.html. Accessed 11 December 2023.