The growth of the undertaking trade occurred in parallel with these developments, a fact largely attributable to the population expansion especially in urban areas. Around 1894, a group of London undertakers rallied together as a result of the need to defend twelve members of the trade against a libel action brought about by a coroner’s…
Whilst the mid-1880s saw the emergence of cremation there was much concern over premature burial and inadequacies in death certification. Furthermore, there was increasing pressure to reform the manner in which funerals were carried out.
The nineteenth century was a period of considerable development in respect of the disposal of the dead. During the 1830s, the proprietary cemeteries severed the monopoly that the Established church possessed over burial provision whilst legislation to regulate burial grounds, the registration of death, the work of the coroner, exhumation and the bequeathal of bodies…
The first such institution The Upholders Company emerged in the early eighteenth century and was closely followed by The United Company of Undertakers.
The Right Honourable David Heath CBE, former Deputy Leader of the House of Commons and Minister of State in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has been appointed Chair of the Independent Funeral Standards Organisation (IFSO) – the new independent regulatory body being set up by the National Association of Funeral Directors.
