Stephen Gowlett

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W. Smith and Sons is a genuine family business. In 1892 Walter Smith, a wheelwright from Puriton in Somerset, established his own coach building business in Pine Road, Winton. His work occasionally involved the construction of horse drawn hearses and carriages for the funeral trade, and it was not long before Walter realised that he could also provide a funeral service to supplement his coach building work. By 1896, the business expanded sufficiently to warrant a move to larger premises in Wimborne Road, Winton, where it has remained to this present day. Following Walter’s death in 1934 and the onset of the motor vehicle, it was decided by his sons, Leslie and Gordon, to seize the coach building work and concentrate solely on funeral directing.