Alfred Smith Funeral Directors
Alfred Crawford Smith
By Beverley Walker
The company was founded in 1881 by Alfred Crawford Smith, a hatbox maker of Southwark, who, after losing one of his children, decided he could better the services of other undertakers. By the time of his death in 1933, his Funeral Directors were the most renowned in South London. They were especially noted for their horses which were totally black Dutch-bred Friesians.
When all funerals were horse drawn, an average of forty stallions and geldings were stabled at the firm’s yard in Newington Crescent, Kennington.
Alfred and his wife Caroline had twenty-two children, six of which were sons, only two of whom survived him into the business, Alfred and Henry Smith. They expanded the business into Southwark at Southwark Bridge Road, Lambeth at Lambeth Walk and to Wrythe Lane, Carshalton. They in turn were followed by their sons Alfred, Henry and George.*
The first premises in Wrythe Lane with Alfred Smith watching from an upstairs window
Alfred Smith Funeral Directors
St. Helier Estate
They opened their first premises at 101 Wrythe Lane in 1934 when the St. Helier Estate was still in the process of construction. They moved to their present location at 304 Wrythe Lane, Rosehill in 1939. This branch was initially run by Harry, son of Alfred junior and grandson of Alfred Crawford Smith, and then by Harry’s son, Tony, who retired from the business in 1996.
They opened branches in Streatham Vale in 1978 and in Carshalton Village in 1993.*
One of the most memorable funerals they undertook was that of Stanley Parish who died in a tragic accident in 1936.
Horsedrawn hearse
Alfred Smith, Funeral Directors
The funeral of Corporal Derek Tony Wood killed by the IRA 19th March 1988. Tony Smith leading the cortege
Alfred Smith, Funeral Directors