History Part 6

During 1899, Henry Smith of Battersea was elected president of the Institute. Dialogue had commenced with undertakers in Leeds and Liverpool to form branch associations and, again, Henry Sherry spoke of the future for the BIU while looking to the rise of undertaking associations in America as the model for gaining recognition. At a meeting in November he urged members to ‘…follow their cousins across the water….organize, educate, legislate.’ He also believed that professional development would come through advocating sanitary practices.