In 1881 Wilfred Freeman was born. His father, John Freeman traded as a 'Boat-builder and coffin maker'. The birth of a son was therefore the birth of 'J Freeman & Son', even though the business had been trading for some years prior to that in Bumblehole, Netherton. At that time and indeed up to the 1950's, several other small builders and carpenters in the area also made coffins and hiring vehicles from Carriage Masters, they 'undertook' to conduct funerals, hence the name 'Undertakers'. Over the years, most of these part-time 'Undertakers' died natural deaths; 'Freemans' alone survived and with local industries converting from coal-fired furnaces and canal transport taking to road and rail, boat-building died too.
