NAFD members conduct WW1 Veterans’ funerals

Three members of the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) were involved in the funerals of First World War Veterans Henry Allingham, 113, and 111-year old Harry Patch, who died within a week of each other earlier this summer, bringing to a close an important chapter in British history.

Attree & Kent handled arrangements on behalf of Mr Allingham’s family, while Hill & Son and G Mannings Funeral Directors shared responsibilities for Mr Patch’s funeral. Each firm endeavoured to carry out the wishes of family and close friends while working with the authorities to deliver a fitting tribute to the nation’s last links with the Great War.

The arrangements had to take into account the requirements of the various national and local news agencies that would be reporting on the funerals, so some degree of compromise was inevitable. Mr Allingham’s great-grandson was not able to speak during the service there was insufficient time. The service was due to start at 12 noon and the BBC, which wanted to show the funeral in full, would need to broadcast the news headlines at 1.00pm. The Ministry of Defence liaison officer was determined that the BBC would show the whole of the service, which made for a tight timescale at the Church.

Attree & Kent made the arrangements in conjunction with Henry Allingham’s family, St Dunstan’s Centre for blind ex-servicemen and women in Ovingdean – where Henry spent his final years – the Ministry of Defence, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy. Funeral director Aaran Morriss said it was a huge privilege to be asked by Mr Allingham’s family to arrange and conduct his funeral and attributes the high standard of service his team provided to the effort and attention to detail put in beforehand and on the day of the funeral itself.

"A few days later I was arranging a funeral for a family in Brighton and the couple asked me whether we had conducted Henry Allingham’s funeral. I was proud to be able to say ‘yes, we did’,” said Aaran.

Harry Patch was honoured with a service at Wells Cathedral which was arranged by Hill & Son and attended by the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duchess of Gloucester (in her capacity as President of the World War One Veterans’ Association), Veterans’ Minister Kevan Jones plus a host of dignitaries, including the Charge D'affaires from the German and French Embassies. General Sir Richard Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff, attended on behalf of the Armed Forces.

Over a thousand tickets to the funeral service at Wells Cathedral were made available to local people, but such was the response to Harry’s passing that up to 2,000 more gathered on the Cathedral Green to watch the ceremony on a giant screen.

Gary Morris, owner of G Mannings Funeral Directors, was approached in March by Ministers for the Parishes of Combe Down and Monkton Combe, after one of Harry’s close friends began to make plans for when he finally passed away.

“It was an honour. We are a small independent firm doing around a hundred funerals a year, and Harry’s was one of the biggest and certainly the most high profile funeral we have ever been involved in,” he says.

Both funerals featured a major police presence and attracted overwhelming public interest. Aaran Morriss says he will always remember the procession to the church because so many people gathered along the route. Workmen downed their tools and removed their hard hats as the cortege passed near Brighton Marina and then hundreds more broke into spontaneous applause as the cars neared the Church. Sussex Police outriders accompanied the hearse and five limousines which made the journey easier as it meant that Aaran and his team did not have to worry about being delayed in traffic.

To enable the local community to pay its respects to Harry Patch, his friends requested that the cortege travel around the village of Combe Down, where Harry had lived, before 20 or so family members and close friends went on to the private burial in the family grave. Gary Morris says the police were very particular, sending outriders to accompany him on the transfer from Wells to Bath, determining the route from the funeral home to the cemetery and cordoning off the entire village early on the morning of the funeral. They also provided an escort during the procession around the village when, once again, people of all ages lined the streets to say a final farewell.

“The funerals of Henry Allingham and Harry Patch will no doubt be etched in the memories of our three member firms for many years to come, as they worked hard to accommodate the wishes of the families and act on the instructions of the authorities while also fielding many public and media enquiries,” says NAFD chief executive officer Alan Slater.

“We congratulate them on carrying out their responsibilities in a highly dignified manner; they are a credit to the profession.”