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Public health funerals

When we arrange a funeral

If a person dies in a hospital in Guildford without any family, the hospital must arrange their funeral. If a person dies anywhere else in Guildford without family or funeral instructions, we will arrange and pay for the funeral.

We will also arrange a funeral if a family refuses to do so. In this case, the family will have no say in any funeral arrangements.

These funerals are known as public health funerals.

Funeral arrangements

If no one is able to arrange the funeral, we will will do the following:

register the death
instruct a funeral director
provide a coffin
arrange transport to the crematorium

If we find instructions showing wishes for a burial or cremation, these will be followed. Any cremated remains will be scattered in Guildford Crematorium's gardens of remembrance, unless other instructions are found.

How we pay for the funeral

We recover the cost of all public health funerals from the person's estate.

How we recover the cost

To help pay for the funeral, we can remove items from the person's home, such as jewellery, and sell them six months after the funeral. If the family has already removed items from the home we will ask them to return them.

Help towards the cost may be available from charities or the Department of Works and Pension Social Fund (opens new window).

Property and personal effects

We will make sure that property is secured and any keys or belonging are handed to the police or housing provider.

If there is furniture or other personal belongings, the estate or the owner of the property will normally meet the cost of clearing the property. Property should not be removed from the house unless legal authority says they can do so.

If, after the funeral costs, there is still some money left (over £500); we will tell the Treasury Solicitor.

Public health funerals list

A list of Public Health Funerals can be found below:

Name	DOB	Death Date	Next of Kin Known	Referred to Treasury Solicitor	Notes
Gerald Bailey	08/02/1946	11/02/2011	Yes	No
Richard Constable	06/12/1934	09/03/2011	Yes	No
Kay Laverick	Not recorded	Not recorded	No	No
Olive Cosgarve	Not recorded	17/05/2011	Yes	No
Graham Shaw	30/10/1945	01/02/2011	No	No
Deborah Jane Anne Hewson	Not known	22/09/2011	Yes	No
Lee Belchamber	12/03/1980	31/12/2011	Yes	No
Roy John Mattews	11/06/1939	01/03/2012	Yes	No
Edith Fuller	15/02/1967	19/03/2012	Yes	No
Paul Walker	19/05/1952	17/04/2012	No	Yes
Anthony Ronald George Barnes	15/04/1932	14/06/2012	No	Yes
Reginald Albert Adams	24/12/1920	07/02/2013	Yes	No
Paul Smith	20/04/1952	02/04/2013	Yes	No
Malcolm Cox	25/12/1953	01/05/2013	No	No
Paul Fruish	22/05/1938	18/08/2013	Yes	No
Steven Begg	02/11/1964	10/08/2013	Yes	No
Michael Vickers-Brown	04/03/1954	01/08/2013	No	No
Jennifer Keene	Not recorded	05/11/2013	yes	No
Ian James Willoghby	24/01/1953	04/07/2013	Yes	No
Antony Belchamber	17/12/1944	02/01/2014	No	No
Marea Mawson	17/07/1958	29/09/2014	Yes	No
Murray Hoad	05/09/1933	16/10/2014	Yes	No
James Gunner	04/12/1936	12/11/2014	Yes	No
Hugh Mordin	14/08/1932	30/12/2014	No	No
Len Longhurst	19/08/1922	26/02/2015	Yes	No
Teresa Lis	15/10/1951	27/04/2015	Yes	No
Terence Chart	27/06/1930	03/08/2015	No	No
Annette Morton	11/09/1952	05/08/2015	Yes	No
Claude Johns	20/03/1927	12/09/2015	Yes	No
William Doidge	08/01/1943	24/09/2015	Yes	No
Anne Rosemary Hamblett	22/01/1940	19/12/2015	Yes	No
Raymond Emmings	29/09/1929	27/03/2016	No	Yes
Wanda Tyler	08/11/1933	26/03/2016	No	Yes
Stephen Stuart-Younger	08/05/1949	09/04/2016	No	Yes
David Coward	27/11/1947	11/04/2016	No	Yes
Judith Genner	11/01/1950	24/03/2016	Yes	No
Ronald Arnold	08/11/1928	17/04/2016	Yes	No
Michael John Ezzard	19/07/1944	12/07/2016	Yes	No
Angela Cosens	04/06/1963	28/04/2016	Yes	No
Jill Ennion	23/01/1941	09/08/2016	Yes	No
Sidney Turrell	26/03/1929	26/06/2016	Yes	No
Irene Harris	31/03/1921	31/01/2017	Yes	No
Patricia Routley	07/07/1935	13/01/2017	Yes	No
Andrew Goodacre	11/10/1954	19/05/2017	Yes	No
Irene Petrovna Dean	30/08/1950	16/06/2017	Yes	No
Terry Houghton	27/03/1951	14/04/2017	Yes	No
Patrick McEvoy	31/12/1941	07/08/2017	Yes	No
Christopher Gould	04/12/1962	06/02/2017	Yes	No
Mildred Weir	10/07/1928	27/12/2017	No	Yes	Passed to SCC Deputyship for referral to Treasury Solicitor
Anthony Gravett	23/01/1926	03/02/2018	Yes	Yes
Ronald Fawcett	24/02/1935	04/04/2018	No	No
John Turner	10/09/1942	16/03/2018	Yes	No
Shirley Ann Chesterman	26/01/1953	29/05/2018	Yes	No
Andrew Palmer	23/07/1946	05/06/2018	No	No
Martin Julian Cave	23/09/1945	09/10/2018	Yes	No
Hugh SIMM	30/03/1926	06/12/2018	Yes	No
Grayson Andrew CATTLE	07/01/1948	09/12/2018	Yes	No
Graham WEBB	1940	08/12/2018	No	Yes	Passed to SCC Deputyship for referral to Treasury Solicitor
Frank PYLINSKI	10/03/1954	02/12/2018	Yes	Yes
Graham FORD	09/05/1963	10/03/2019	Yes	No
Robert Charles PETTER	13/06/1951	11/04/2019	Yes	No
Martin LANGLEY	1957	09/07/2019	No	No
Daphne Ellen Lambert	15/07/1941	16/07/2019	Yes	No
John JONES	1958	30/03/2020	Yes	No
Tina DOLLIN	1965	11/03/2020	Yes	No
Percy CHAMBERLAIN	09/02/1931	16/06/2020	Yes	No
Kevin BRYANT	14/02/1965	23/06/2020	Yes	No
Carl Johan FITCH	10/06/1978	11/07/2020	Yes	No
John MORAN	15/05/1964	07/04/2020	Yes	No
Jane Elvy		14/09/2020	No
Derek Michael LANG	25/12/1964	18/02/2021	Yes	No