About Our History – Funeral Home in Formby since 1827
Dean Brothers independent Formby funeral home were originally wheelwrights and operated from Kenyons Lane, Formby, establishing in 1827. His son (WiIlliam) moved to Gores Lane trading as builders and funeral directors in what was then a small village community. Williams’ nephew (Ellis) pursued a career in farming which was then situated at Deansgate Lane North, Formby.
Williams’ sons (Ellis and William II) formed Dean Brothers in 1946 registering the company as Dean Brothers (Formby) Ltd.
William II’s son Peter, along with his wife Joyce continue from the premises of his forefathers, they have served the community for many years. In the time that Peter has been a Company Director and now Chairman the premises have been extended twice and considerably improved to provide a high level of professional service. Additional improvements have been incorporating computerisation of all filing and administration systems in the 80’s and 90’s. Peter and Joyce also then employed daughter Sharon, son Iain and daughter Samantha who all play vital roles in the maintaining of Dean Brothers’ professionalism.
In 1997 the premises on Gores Lane were overhauled and revamped, extended by local builders Wignall & Son enabling Dean Brothers to improve all of their facilities, chapels and offices.
Formby Funeral Home in Modern Times
In 2006 Iain authored a web driven application for internal funeral use, enabling all funeral operatives access to their secure intranet of funeral prices and information, removing the need for vast amounts of internal paperwork and multiple copies of that paperwork. These now run on iPads and laptops and all administrations and calenders are web based using cloud software.
Iain, the current Managing Director, (since 2009) has, with Sharon and Samantha, implemented more IT based systems and the first brand new fleet, in 2011. This ensures that families receive the highest level of care from start to finish.
2019 saw further extensive refurbishment and extensions to the offices.
Post Covid Improvements
Post Covid, our mortuary was extended and rebuilt with brand new (better than) hospital standard mortuary facilities, completed in 2024. The only funeral home in Formby with full facilities.
In addition to this there have been further overhauls of software internally and a new funeral cost calculator online, available here.
We are also very proud to provide EPS prepaid funeral plans, more information available here.
Dean Brothers remain one of the areas only independent family run funeral services with full facilities in Formby, providing personal caring services to Formby, Southport, Crosby and surrounding areas.
