The History of
Mortons Funeral Directors

Maintaining tradition

Maintaining tradition was at the heart of what Victor did and he would lead the cortege away from the client’s home for a short distance on foot – a tradition which to this day is still carried out by Mortons.

Victor maintained the high standards set by his father and continued to establish the business as one which could be relied upon to provide a level of service second to none. During this time, the funeral business was managed by Victor and his wife Ivy, alongside a Monumental Masonry business and more unusually, a thriving taxi service. Victor and Ivy had two sons – Grant and Miles who were both destined to carry on the family tradition.

Following Victor’s death in 1968 Grant and Miles took control of the day to day running of the business alongside their mother and whilst the best traditions were continued, more contemporary practices were also adopted to keep pace with the changing needs of the local community.

In 1982, as part of their development plans, Grant and Miles appointed Derek Case to assist them with the future development needs of Mortons. In the same year the Rubery office was opened, followed by the Cotteridge office some 12 years later.

New family, same values

By 2005 Derek Case had become Managing Director with a remit to steer Mortons in a modern and ever changing world. Derek’s daughter, Sarah Case had started working in a part time capacity whilst completing her Law Degree. She found the work so rewarding that she gave up the law and joined in a full-time capacity when her studies were completed in 2005, thus starting another ‘family tradition’ albeit outside the original Morton family.

Sarah passed her Diploma in Funeral Directing examinations in 2011 and has developed her skills massively within the company since then and now holds the position of Assistant MD alongside her Dad.

When, in May 2015 Miles Mortons retired from the business, it seemed the right and natural course for Derek and Sarah Case to take ownership of the company, ensuring that the high professional standards that Mortons Funeral Directors have become renowned for will continue long into the future.

In September 2016, Derek Case celebrated 40 years within Funeral Service and declared himself very lucky that he has been to be able to serve the community in a way that can make such a positive difference to someone at a time of deep distress. He continues to feel that his role is immensely challenging, but also very satisfying. Having now served families for almost 47 years Derek is embarking upon semi-retirement to focus upon his eclectic variety of pastimes and hobbies whilst continuing to serve on an ad hoc basis as a consultant ensuring that his wealth of knowledge and experience can still called upon whenever necessary.

In the meantime, Sarah continues in her role as Managing Director and together with the management team they focus on improving standards of service wherever possible whilst ensuring that the values and ethos embraced and implemented over the years continue to be delivered.

Mortons continue to make investment in their staff recruitment, training and uniforms, together with improvements to their facilities and the vehicles they use. They have recently completed a major refurbishment of their branch offices and have already made substantial modernisation to the head office in Northfield. All Mortons’ staff derive great satisfaction from delivering the best possible service to bereaved clients and they have a management team which promotes leadership by example. They remain focused on buying British wherever possible and ensure that the highest ethical and moral standards are applied in all that they buy, use and deliver to others.