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Many of the stories on these pages featured in an award-winning TV series called Disappearing London, presented by Suggs from Madness.
Series 2 of Disappearing London starts on ITV London at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 9 January 2007, and runs for 6 weeks (9, 16, 23 30 Jan, 6, 13 Feb).
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A proper London funeral
In the first part of 20th century the horse-drawn hearse was a fixture of a good send off. One family firm of undertakers keeps the tradition alive.
T. Cribb and Sons of Beckton was founded by Thomas Cribb in the 1881. Today it’s run by his great-grandson John Harris.
An early advert for their services reads: "Always in readiness for the removal of bodies from hospitals and asylums on the shortest notice".
No subtlety there at all.
The horses that John's firm use is a breed called Frisians, they come from the northern part of Holland. They were known in the trade as 'Belgian blacks' which is something of a misnomer resulting from the fact that the horses were shipped to London from the port of Antwerp. The horses came to the Elephant and Castle, where there was a big horse depository now long gone, and once a month there was a big horse sale of black horses just for the funeral trade.
As cars started taking over London's streets, the funeral trade like many others became motorized.T. Cribb is one that bucks the trade.
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