Passing away
Passing on
A typical village would have a number of commercial establishments such as: a smithy, butcher’s yard, saddle and harness maker, and carpenter and coffin maker. In 1900 Mr. Sairey, is listed as, among other occupations, as an undertaker. Primarily, patients died in their own homes and stayed there until burial. If death was the result of an infectious disease in a cramped dwelling, it could result in the rest of the family having to crowd together in one room, leaving the body (for hygiene reasons) in a room of its own. Between 1817 and 1852 Chinnor burial records included the date of death as well as the date of burial, indicating a period of about 2-3 days between death and internment, during which time, the body would remain in the home. Nearby was the High Wycombe and Earl of Beaconsfield Memorial Cottage Hospital (10 miles) which started as a cottage hospital 1875-1923 and was later the High Wycombe War Memorial Hospital 1923-1971. It was described in Burdetts ‘Cottage Hospitals’ as ‘being pleasantly situated with a well laid out garden and the general arrangements were good’. Burdett, was particularly pleased to note that a mortuary had been included in the plans, stating that a mortuary was an indispensable adjunct to a properly equipped cottage hospital, particularly if it was open to the public as well as being for hospital use. In 1902 an isolation room was added to the High Wycombe Hospital.
Surman and Horwood - Funeral Directors
The firm of funeral directors which bears the name Surman and Horwood was founded in the second half of the 1940’s by the late Mr Bertram Surman and Mr Thomas Horwood. The late Mr Surman had a great deal of experience in funeral directing and the firm thrived from this.
The driving force was to provide the very best possible service to the bereaved relatives and for the utmost respect to be given to the deceased.
Today, well over half a century later these principles are still in place under the careful management of the grandchildren and great grandchildren of the late Mr Bertram Surman.
Prior to Bertram taking on the workload, the funeral affairs were handled by workers who were not Soley funeral directors. Mr Bertran Surman was in fact a builder before moving into the industry, his knowledge of building and woodwork was of great help when it came to building the coffins.
It’s not all serious business however, our very own Robert Surman, along with the hearse and limousine has had a role in the iconic Midsummer Murders, our hearse was nearly tipped on its side at Breakspear Crematorium when Troy comes flying into the crematorium. Our hearse is forced to swerve nearly flipping on its side completely. Luckily Robert lived to tell the tale.
We have a great team at Surman and Horwood, and back in the early 2000’s this included a ginger cat. This furry friend would show up to every funeral in St Andrews Church, it would accompany the coffin down the aisle and often lie itself down at the front with the coffin. Everyone became very fond of this cat, and it was seen as an honour to have our feline friend show up at a funeral.
Surman and Horwood are a key part of the community, we are part of the Chinnor emergency plan, if there is a major incident we would become front line workers. We see our work as incredibly important and strive to provide perfect service for the local community.
Conversation with Rachel Surman about the effect of the pandemic on the firm.
Rachels main role is administrative and occasional mortuary work. Throughout the pandemic Surman’s staff found that they had to adopt a whole new way of working. Funeral services were restricted to 6 attendees so Surmans had an increase in cremations with a funeral service later. Whist recovering a client personnel had to wear full PPE with breathing masks and the premises, cars and recovery vehicle had to be deep cleaned multiple times.
Much of which was the antithesis of their customary empathetic personal approach work ethos, For example, no viewings were allowed and the usual body preparation was not done and funeral arrangements having to be conducted by phone or zoom. Rachel pointing out that this was a disadvantage since it was not possible to meet relatives until the day of the funeral. The number of staff available during the day was reduced although on call night staff had to be maintained because nursing homes needed a prompt recovery of a client whereas previously before they would wait until morning.
The firm also suffered with logistics issues such as a lack of PPE and body bags, however, due to the foresight of Robert Surman who had been involved in Chinnor’s Emergency Plan from the early stages, had stock piled equipment in preparation for such an event.
Surmans did not experience the full force of the pandemic for the first 2 months after that, calls on their services almost tripled and for 9 weeks the firm was working 12-14 hour days at full capacity stop with unprecedented numbers of funerals to accommodate. In order to cope with the increase work load the firm split into two teams to keep the number of persons at work at the lowest level and to maintain a service should a member of staff have to isolate. Prior to the pandemic Surmans had doubled their storage capacity and were also able to rent refrigeration units from Stoke Mandeville hospital if necessary.
The staff at Surmans were not immune to the effect of the pandemic losing two members of the family themselves and sharing in the communal grief.
Document Library
Enclosure and Unusual Mortuary Rites at
Greenwood Avenue, Chinnor
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