Twenty-five years ago, I returned to funeral industry after a decade’s absence following the sale of my shares in company I had built. That company had been Hodgson Holdings plc. I had grown it by acquisition from 1 branch in 1975 to 569 in 1991. It had been floated in 1986 on the London Stock Exchange, and I had become a ‘City darling’ with the shares rising 400% in the first year.
I didn’t look like an ‘undertaker’, although I was indeed a fourth-generation funeral director. However, my blond locks, snazzy suits and an uncanny resemblance to Robert Redford gave a different impression. The media boys and girls loved me, and I loved them back. I soon became known as ‘Mr Death’, the enfant terrible of the funeral profession and a household name that had me on TV weekly and introduced to the good and gracious including the then Queen Elizabeth II and the now King Charles III.
I had become very successful and financially secure. Upon my retirement in 1991 I was invited to present two series of a business programme for BBC 2 and became a permanent panel member of the extremely successful ‘Board Game’ for the decade it ran on BBC Radio 4.
So, my celebrity status was built on the fact that I seemed to be nothing like what the public perception of a funeral director was. However, Hodgson Holdings plc’s success was built on the fact that I really was a funeral director, and thanks to my father, a very good one.
In the decade I was away from funerals, I never aspired to such great heights and indeed at one point looked set to lose all the financial wealth and public regard I had built up previously.
Then, in 2002, I decided to return to the world of death. However, this time I determined that three things would be different: the company would build its own crematoria; growth would be achieved organically – rather than by acquisition; and that I would keep a low profile and let the company itself be the star.
So, I formed that company with my very good friend Michael Hackney, and we were then joined by my 3rd son Jamieson. Michael thought Memoria would be a good name and I agreed.
I ran the operation, Michael the finance and Jamieson set about obtaining the usually very difficult planning consents – mainly winning them on appeal.
I wanted everyone employed by the company to feel part of something very special and be dedicated to helping bereaved families through the worst time of their lives. Therefore, I composed our ‘Mission Statement’. It read:
‘Memoria has a mission to provide exceptional standards of service, facility and products to the bereaved families that use its funeral directing services, crematoria, cemeteries, gardens of remembrance, financial & legal services or online retail store. This is because it is not only commercially sensible to do so but also because it is an essential act of human decency towards people who have just lost a much-loved member of their family or friend. Bereavement is the price we must all pay for the joy of loving and being loved. The loss of a loved one is the most stressful, unhappy and traumatic experience that we will face in life. We at Memoria realise that we are unable to eradicate such pain, but we also know it is our responsibility and duty to be as efficient, kind, respectful and polite as humanly possible to our clients at their time of grief, and thereafter when they need to conclude estate matters for their cherished relatives or friends. Therefore, it is our aim to provide immaculately clean and tidy facilities in tranquil and beautiful surroundings attended by people who are sincerely dedicated to our mission, and who take a great pride in their work as a result’.
Memoria became a huge success. It built 19 crematoria over the next 16 years all with modern innovation and were beautifully appointed. It started a funeral division which introduced fixed price funeral packages as alternative choices to traditional Victorian funerals; a financial service division to offer those same packages as pre-arranged funeral plans and an online memorial store.
Eventually, Michael wanted to retire and so Memoria was sold to the Darwin Bereavement Fund in 2021 as the leading and most innovative company in its field. This huge success was created not by the three of us only, but by the wonderfully dedicated and loyal staff that made that ‘Mission Statement’ a reality for hundreds of thousands bereaved families.
Most people go to work every day for the money they receive. Instead, these folk go on a saintly mission every day to show man’s humanity to man; to do unto others what they would have done unto them.
I know each of them, respect and love all of them. I thank them for their exceptional dedication to making that ‘Mission Statement’ a reality. I am extra-ordinarily proud to have known them and led them.
Article by Howard Hodgson
