The Wake of WellingtonSoldier, hero, and politician, the Duke of Wellington is one of the best known figures of nineteenth century England. From his victory at Waterloo over Napoleon in 1815, he rose to become prime minister of his country. But Peter Sinnema finds equal fascination in Victorian Englands response to the dukes death. The Wake of Wellington considers Wellingtons spectacular funeral pageant in the fall of 1852an unprecedented event that attracted one and a