Dignity Group
 | |
| Industry | Funeral services |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1994 |
| Headquarters | Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, UK |
Key people | Shirley Garrood, Non-Executive Chair Zillah Byng-Thorne, CEO |
| Revenue |  £314.1 million (2021) |
| £15.9 million (2021) | |
| Website | www.dignityfunerals.co.uk |
| Footnotes / references Dignity plc Annual Report & Accounts 2020 | |
Dignity Group is a funeral-related service provider in the United Kingdom.
History
[edit]The business was created in 1994 through the merger of Plantsbrook Group and Great Southern Group,[1] both of which companies had been acquired by Service Corporation International Inc earlier that year.[2] In 2002 the merged business was the subject of a management buyout from Service Corporation International Inc.[3] The merger brought together a number of funeral service businesses.[1]
There are currently 795 Dignity Funeral Directors across the UK. Several mergers and organic growth have brought together a number of historic funeral businesses, private cemeteries and crematoria over the years, including:
- George S Munn, Glasgow – 1812
- Francis Chappell & Sons, London – 1840
- J Rymer, York – 1848
- Ginns & Gutteridge, Leicestershire – 1855
- Lawrence Funeral Service, Halifax – 1857
- E Finch & Sons, Aldershot – 1857
- Beckenham Cemetery, Kent – 1876
- J H Kenyon, London – 1880
- Frederick W Paine, London – 1884
- Perry Barr Crematorium, Birmingham – 1903
- John Bardgett & Son, Newcastle upon Tyne – 1914
- Jonathan Harvey, Glasgow – 1928
- South London Crematorium – 1930
- Seaford & Newhaven Funeral Service, East Sussex – 1950
In January 2023, the board agreed to accept an offer for the company from a consortium of investors including SPWOne V Ltd, Castelnau Group and Phoenix Asset Management.[4]
Operations
[edit]Dignity provides funeral services, cremations and pre-arranged funerals UK-wide through three separate brands:[5]
- Dignity Funeral Services
- The Crematorium and Memorial Group
- Simplicity Cremations
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Dignity Caring Funeral Services - About us - History". dignityfunerals.co.uk. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
- ^ Competition Commission Archived 25 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Managers buy out UK funeral giant BBC, 11 February 2002
- ^ "UK funeral service provider Dignity agrees to $349 mln takeover". Reuters. 23 January 2023. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
- ^ "Dignity plc Annual Report & Accounts 2020" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 May 2021.