Desmond Henley

Desmond Charles Henley, OBE (1927, Marylebone, London – 11 November 2005, Portsmouth ) was an English embalmer.

Career After leaving school, Henley joined the London company of funeral directors James H. Kenyon Ltd in 1941. Established in 1880, J. H. Kenyon Ltd were the undertakers to the Royal Household, and had in that role assisted in arranging the funerals of many members of the Royal Family. After training in all theoretical and practical aspects of embalming, Henley passed his professional examinations in 1948. Four years later he was appointed the company's chief embalmer.

In 1961, Henley became an examiner of the British Institute of Embalmers. He also taught embalming techniques, embalming fluid formulas as well as disaster management to funeral directors. In an interview published in 1998, Henley expressed doubts that the mummification of Lenin's body in Moscow was indeed as permanent as claimed by the Russian authorities.

Notable cases In his role as chief embalmer for J. H. Kenyon Ltd, Henley carried out the embalming of King George VI at Sandringham House in 1952, that of Queen Mary at Marlborough House in 1953, and that of Sir Winston Churchill at the latter's London home at 28 Hyde Park Gate in 1965.

Churchill's body was embalmed in the same room where he had died on the morning of 24 January 1965, a Sunday. When the process was completed, the remains were dressed in his silk pyjamas and dressing robe and placed back into his bed. Churchill would lie in repose in private at his Hyde Park Gate home until 9:00 pm Tuesday evening when Kenyon's staff transported his remains to Westminster Hall to lie in state

Retirement and death In retirement he lived in London and Portsmouth. 1987: Fellow of the British Institute of Embalmers 1997: Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)