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The British Institute of Embalmers was founded in 1927 by a group of 15 Funeral Directors who recognised the need for a separate organisation for the professional embalmer.

The 'Memorandum of Association' lists 19 Objectives for which the Institute was established. Many of these are legal statements concerning the activities in which the Institute may be concerned and, whilst vital for the correct functioning of the Institute, are not directly concerned with embalming itself.

Those, which give the clue to the purpose of the Institute, are as follows:-

(a) To support and protect the status, character and interests of persons professing or practising the art or science of embalming the dead.

(b) To promote the efficient tuition of persons seeking to study and practise the said art or science.

(c) To encourage, by providing lectures and tuition and by testing by examination or otherwise, and by awarding certificates, prizes and distinctions, and by instituting and establishing grants, rewards and other benefactions, the study and practice of improved methods:

(i) For preserving and disinfecting bodies of the dead;
(ii) For preventing or lessening the danger of such bodies propagating disease;
(iii) Of branches of knowledge having relation to the treatment, sanitation and disposal of such bodies.

(d) To consider all questions affecting the interests of persons engaged in embalming, sanitation, and disposal of the bodies of the dead, and to initiate and watch over, and, if thought desirable, to petition Parliament, or promote deputation's in relation to any to any public measure affecting any matters aforesaid, and to promote improvements in the principles and administration of the law relating to the treatment and disposal of the bodies of the dead."

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Rachel Shipley FBIE - President