Editing Thomas Babington Macaulay (section)

===Later life (1857–1859)===
[[File:The Funeral of Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay by Sir George Scharf.jpg|thumb|250px|''The Funeral of Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay'', by Sir [[George Scharf]]]]

Macaulay sat on the committee to decide on the historical subjects to be painted in the new [[Palace of Westminster]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Thomas Babington Macaulay|url=http://www.clanmacfarlanegenealogy.info/genealogy/TNGWebsite/getperson.php?personID=I48712&tree=CC|publisher=Clanmacfarlanegenealogy|access-date=25 October 2013}}</ref> The need to collect reliable portraits of notable figures from history for this project led to the foundation of the [[National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom)|National Portrait Gallery]], which was formally established on 2 December 1856.<ref>{{cite journal |title=From the Director |url=http://www.npg.org.uk/assets/migrated_assets/docs/support/individual/face2face16.pdf |journal=Face to Face |date=Spring 2006 |issue=16 |publisher=[[National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom)|National Portrait Gallery]] |access-date=25 October 2013}}</ref> Macaulay was amongst its founding trustees and is honoured with one of only three busts above the main entrance.

During his later years his health made work increasingly difficult for him. He died of a heart attack on 28 December 1859, aged 59, leaving his major work, ''The History of England from the Accession of James the Second'' incomplete.<ref>{{cite news |title=Death of Lord Macaulay|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1860/01/17/news/death-of-lord-macaulay.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=17 January 1960 |access-date=25 October 2013}}</ref> On 9 January 1860 he was buried in [[Westminster Abbey]], in [[Poets' Corner]],<ref>[[Arthur Penrhyn Stanley|Stanley, A. P.]], ''Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey'' ([[London]]; [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]; [[1882]]), p. 222.</ref>  near a statue of [[Joseph Addison|Addison]].<ref name=ODNB/> As he had no children, his peerage became extinct on his death.

Macaulay's nephew, [[Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet|Sir George Trevelyan, Bt]], wrote the "Life and Letters" of his uncle. His great-nephew was the Cambridge historian [[G. M. Trevelyan]].