The church was full to overflowing. Even with the additional seats left in the building after Burchill’s final performance on the 28th of September, there was insufficient space for all who wished to attend the funeral. When the doors were opened at 10 o’clock, there was already a long queue of people waiting, ready to jostle for the seats for ordinary people. The middling sort appeared over the next hour as their carriages deposited them at the main gates. Reporters from the Gazette and Argus asked for comment; sometimes it was given, sometimes not. As the time of the service approached, the leading men of Hartley arrived to take their places at the head of the nave: the Lord Mayor, the Lord Lieutenant, the Members of Parliament for Hartley North, Hartley Central and Hartley South, the Duke and Duc...

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