Mourners use the password to access a live online broadcast of the funeral service captured by a small camera mounted in the chapel.

"Families are dispersed across the world these days and sometimes it's the case that someone cannot get home in time for a funeral," said Alan Jeffrey, director of Wesley Music.

David Powell, of funeral directors Henry Powell and Son in Southampton, said he had already tested the service during three funerals. He insisted they remained private, intimate affairs despite being broadcast on the Web.