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St. James Funeral Home owned by Paul Garland-Thomas who has over 50 years of experience in the funeral profession. We're based in Swansea.

 Paul Garland-Thomas (Owner) was brought up in the funeral profession with Williams of Walter Road. Owned by his father Harold the company was established by his family in 1760. Paul began work in the business after leaving school in 1970 and was sent to complete his training in London before being recalled to take over the company following the death of his father Harold in 1977.

In 1987 Paul Garland-Thomas and Stan Lee came together and decided to establish St James funeral Home a new premises was required. 31 St. James Gardens was the ideal building, a large family home built in 1872, with beautiful gardens and away from the main roads it offered a tranquil setting with accessible parking. It also required little major alteration to make the premises suitable, this helped in maintaining its quiet homely feel.

In 1989, St. James Funeral Home became one of the original members of the Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (www.saif.org.uk) a new national governing body set up to protect the rights and interests of privately owned funeral directors against the ongoing threat of the multinationals.

Further expansion came in 1990 with the purchase of new premises at 462 Gower Road, Killay. In 2006, we began to offer memorial services which are now located at this address.

In the ensuing years, Gowerton & Penclawdd lost privately owned firms, Lemuel Morgan & Alec Fry due to bereavements and retirement. Since both had working associations with St. James Funeral Home, it was decided to open a third office at 3 Gorwydd Road, Gowerton, which would maintain the local community’s access to a firm of family-owned funeral directors.

In 2021 Stan Lee retired from St James Funeral Home to leave Paul Garland-Thomas to run the company with his son David. David is the 9th generation continuing the family's history within the funeral trade.