HAROLD WILSON, the Prime Minister who is said to have burned himself
out for Britain, was buried yesterday on the Isles of Scilly in a grave
overlooking one of the unspoilt bays he loved so much.
Former Labour Premier Lord Callaghan and the party's current leader
Tony Blair joined hundreds of islanders and holidaymakers in a final
farewell.
Lord Wilson, who died on May 24, aged 79, had a 35-year love affair
with the remote island of St Mary's, 28 miles west of Land's End. And he
was given the islander's funeral that his widow, Lady Wilson, had wished
for him.
First there was the hour-long service in the 160-year-old parish
church of St Mary the Virgin in Hugh Town, where Lord Wilson had
worshipped. Then the oak coffin was carried in a slow procession to a
tiny, 900-year-old church, St Mary's, for burial -- an island tradition.
Lady Wilson and the other mourners filed slowly past the front gate of
Lowenva, the modest bungalow she and Lord Wilson built on the island in
the 1960s.
The man who built it, former Scillies council chairman Sam Ellis, said
after the ceremony: ''It was the biggest funeral on Scilly this century.
Everyone will miss him.''
Methodist minister the Rev Brian Mavers, who gave a short address at
the service, said afterwards: ''It was a great Scillonian affair.''
Lord Wilson regularly escaped to the Scillies when in power to get
away from the pressures of political life and he valued the solitude of
the uninhabited outer islands.
He was regarded almost as an islander, and Scillonians packed the
parish church to say goodbye.
Members of the Labour hierarchy, past and present, flew to the
sundrenched islands to pay their last respects. They included former
Cabinet Minister Baroness Castle, ''kitchen cabinet'' member Gerald
Kaufman, and Lord Wilson's Cabinet secretary Lady Falkender.
Lady Wilson herself was accompanied by her two sons, Dr Robin Wilson
and his family, and Giles Wilson.
The Prime Minister was represented by St Ives Conservative MP David
Harris, whose constituency includes the Scillies. He said the Scillies
was the place Lord and Lady Wilson ''loved above all others''.
Among the two dozen wreaths were flowers from Mr Major and his wife
and the Prince's Council of the Duchy of Cornwall, which owns the
islands.
There were also wreaths from colleagues in the House of Lords and from
local organisations, including the St Mary's Boatmen's Association and
the lifeboat crew.
In his address, Lord Tonypandy, who as George Thomas was Speaker of
the House of Commons, said: ''We thank God for a wonderful life. We
thank God for the life and achievements of one who burned himself out
for Britain. History is certain to place Lord Wilson among its
parliamentary giants.''
The island's two-man police force was expanded to 10 for the funeral.
And they ensured a smooth path for the slow, 35-minute procession,
during which relays of lifeboatmen, firemen, and gig racers carried the
coffin along the narrow island road to the picturesque, palm-shaded
graveyard.
The coffin, draped in the flag of Trinity House, of which Lord Wilson
was an honorary member, was laid to rest in the flower-scented graveyard
overlooking the tiny, crescent-shaped Old Town Bay.
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