Career
After leaving school, Henley joined the notable London funeral director"s company James H. Kenyon Limited in 1941. After training in all theoretical and practical aspects of embalming, Henley passed his 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.
In his role as chief embalmer for J. H. Kenyon Limited, 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. Sir Winston"s body was embalmed in the same room where he had died.
When the embalming was completed Sir Winston"s remains were dressed in his silk pyjamas and his dressing robe and placed back in his bed.
Sir Winston would repose in private at this Hyde Park Gate home until 9:00 p.m. Tuesday evening when Kenyon"s staff would quietly, under the strictest privacy from Scotland Yard, transport his mortal remains to Westminster Hall for public viewing. Four years later, Henley embalmed the remains of Mutesa II of Buganda.
And when Idi Amin had Mutesa II"s body returned from London to Uganda in 1971, Henley was requested to accompany lieutenant
In the time between 1963 and 1976, Henley also worked extensively in Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Benin and Malawi, and continued to advise royal families worldwide until his retirement from J. H. Kenyon Limited in 1992, after 51 years of service. In retirement he lived in London and Portsmouth.
After training in disaster management, Henley also served as head of J. H. Kenyon Limited"s emergency services mortuary team In this role he was involved in the recovery and repatriation of bodies after numerous disasters, including the Kano air disaster in Nigeria in 1973, the Zeebrugge ferry disaster in 1987 and the Lockerbie bombing in 1988.
lieutenant was for this work at major disasters around the world that Henley was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire "for services in the aftermath of disasters involving the loss of human life" in the 1997 New Year 1972: Freeman of the City of London.