Archives of the Crayford Friendly Funeral Society

This collection includes minutes, financial records, death certificates and correspondence

<p>See M. G. Moore 'The Crayford Friendly Funeral Society' in Bygone Kent, Vol.2 No. 6 1981 pp.349-351</p>

The Society was founded in 1856 to collect subscriptions to insure against pauper funerals for children; this was extended to include adults in 1864. The Society grew rapidly in membership with the late-nineteenth century urban growth in London's hinterland, and from 1887 its function extended to Dartford, Bexley and Erith as well as Crayford itself. By 1936, membership stood at nearly 40,000, and since the turn of the century the Society had been able to loan considerable sums to the local district councils to pay for public transport and road improvement schemes. The Society was, unusually, able to remain an unregistered industrial society throughout its history, on condition that its collectors only operated within a ten mile radius of its offices in London Road, Crayford.

Heavy outpayments resulting from the two World Wars, combined with the extended post-war provision of state death grants weakened the Society to the extent of ensuring its eventual winding-up in 1965.