Funeral receipt from 1958

[bubblebelle]

Going through some old papers my Grandmother kept, I found a receipt for the funeral costs of her father in 1958. This has led to a happy hour looking at the history of the funeral directors involved and researching the equivelent costs. In 1958, Mum had started work in 1959 and her start weekly pay in a solicitors office in London was £9. So it would have been the equivelent of approx 4 weeks pay. £40 in 1958 is said to be approx £820 today.

This is a transcript from the receipt.

22nd March: To an English Elm Coffin with a moulded capping and plinth, polished and fitted with four pairs of brassed handles and plate with an engraved inscription.

Lined with a swansdown lining.

Removed to Private Chapel.

26th March: To a Rolls Royce Motor Hearse

2 Rolls Royce Limosines

Bearers and own attendance and arranging funeral.

£36

Purchasing grave RR50 Bedfont Cemetery £2 17/-

Bedfont Church Service 15/-

-------------

£39 12/-

If you would like to read further I have written a blogpost Odds and ends: Funeral costs 1958 (mypynthdev.blogspot.com)

Moderators- please feel free to move post but I thought it may be of interest or others may have similar receipts.

[Jill on the A272]

I found the receipt for my newborn elder baby brother's funeral in 1959 among my father's papers after dad died in 2013. He never mentioned Andrew although my mother spoke about her experiences and I had known about him since my early teens. It's not itemised, it cost £4 10s. My cousin says my dad attended and Andrew was buried in with another adult. How she know this I don't know as she wasn't born then.

The undertaker is no longer in business and there are 4 cemeteries in the district where he died, the council there charge £23 when I last looked into it to check their registers.

[teasie]

I have a similar one for my Great Grandfather's funeral in 1957. It was from the Co-op, and so Gran received a divi on the total cost less the church & grave fees.

To French Polished Coffin fitted with silver handles, upholstered in cream Domette, silk dressing gown, Hearse and 6 cars and bearers......... £38 15s

4 Floral Wreaths @ 50/- ......... £10

Catering ....... £8

Amount on which dividend is given ............ £56 15s

Grave Dues including new grave & Ministers fees.........£7
Church Fee ......... £2 7s
Press Notices........£1 9s

Total £67 11s

According to the Historic Inflation Calculator that would be £1,729.77 today (it calculates yours for 1958 at £977.87)

I also have the grave registration document and the Letters of Administration for my grandmother. Estate value was £1,026 16s 4d / Net £823 3s 10d (around £25k gross today). The back of the document is stamped by the Yorkshire Penny Bank, Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd, HM Inspector of Taxes (twice!) and Refuge Assurance Company.

[Jill on the A272]

We have my husband's great grandmother's funeral bill for £8 18s 6d paid on 21 Dec 1911.

Polished Elm coffin, fullly dressed £3 15s
Attendance with same 10s
Glass car £1 5s
2 carriages £1
4 men bearers and personal attendance £1 14s 6d
Burial fees & expenses 14s

Quite how it was paid I am not sure as her widower was in jail and found unfit to plead due to insanity.

[keldon]

My Great-grandfather died in 1885. He was shoemaker. The funeral must have been very expensive for his family. I have the bill and a memorial card which was given to all the mourners as a keepsake.

“Making black covered coffin, two rows of nails and side sheets conveying ditto to Parochial Cemetery. Pair horse hearse, three single horse coaches, 3 bearers, internment in 6ft grave. £5.13s.0d.”

I also have a photograph of a funeral procession pulling up at the gates of the cemetery. It matches the description in the bill but the quality of the image suggests it may have been a different one c.1910.

[bubblebelle]

Thank you all for sharing your own receipts, they are a fascinating insight into social history and how our ancestors, when able, wanted to give a good send off.
Since writing this blog, Mum has recalled all the flowers that were left in her Grandfathers memory, from small posies and bunches from the allotments to big wreaths.

Jill, perhaps your husbands great Grandmother paid into her own form of funeral plan Funding funerals through history - Funeral Guide I remember when I was a child my Grandmother paying into weekly insurances but cannot recall what they were. The Insurance man would call much like the 'Pools Man'. Similarly I recall going to the cemetery with my Grandmother to tidy and place flowers on her father's grave. She would point further along the cemetery stating her mother was buried there, but we never left flowers for her, it always felt strange to me as a child. Perhaps I just happened to stay with my Grandparents at an anniversary for her father, than her mother or whether it was the green stone chippings on her father's grave that stick in my memory. It's sad that you are unable to find the last resting place for your brother, but at least he is not forgotten. Hopefully one day in the not too distant future, there will be a parish burial record which will help with finding him.

Thanks Teasie, I too used an Inflation converter, these different results perhaps indicate the need to take an average, but £100 feel like a large discrepency, even when only used as a guide.

[teasie]

I think a lot of people paid into insurance policies - think of the notorious Mary Ann Cotton who was hanged for killing several of her husbands as well as her children, allegedly for the insurance policies!

As mentioned, the letters of administration granted to my Grandmother were stamped on the back by the Refuge Assurance Company, who were a life insurance company.

We also had an insurance man call round weekly - our was from 'The Pru' (Prudential).

[Jill on the A272]

teasie my grandmother took out a policy on my mother's life when she was born in 1930 which paid out a tiny sum on her death in 1990, though it probably would have paid for her funeral had she died as a child. I also have a large document which is the life insurance policy for a baby born in the family in 1939 taken out days after his birth in Portsmouth, never claimed on his death by his executor in 2014 which eventually came to me with personal papers and photos which had been given by his executor to his lady companion.

[keldon]

There were also Burial Clubs.

https://historyhouse.co.uk/articles/burial_clubs.html

[ElyseMack]

It's crazy how things have changed over the years, especially when it comes to costs. That £40 back then would be worth around £820 today. Can you believe it? The details on the receipt are really interesting. That fancy English Elm Coffin with all those brassed handles and a swansdown lining sounds pretty fancy. And let's not forget about the Rolls Royce Motor Hearse and two Limosines, talk about a stylish send-off! It's cool to see all the costs for the grave, Footstone and church service too. Thanks for sharing this piece of history, it's a trip down memory lane.

[Lin Fisher]

I remember the Refuge man coming on a Monday teatime to collect his money and when I started doing my family history Dad produced both his parents death certs for me and they had at the bottom that they were a copy for my dad to claim his insurance from the Refuge. They carried on paying into it until I think retirement or a certain age and made them quite a bit of money.

Loved reading all about the receipt and the prices. Must say the coffins sound very posh indeed.