GIRLS’ FRIGHTFUL ORDEAL

A disaster caused by fire, terrible and pathetic in its consequences, involving the deaths of eleven young women and of a foreman, and injuries to two other women, occurred yesterday morning at the works of Messrs. W. V Gilbert Ltd., at Crayford Marshes, a bleak and desolate part of Kent, a few miles from Erith. The premises had been used by the Government for the making of bombs, and were taken over by the company, who, as Government agents, have been engaged since last December in breaking up cartridges containing Verey lights, which were required for signalling during the war. In this occupation forty-three people were occupied, mostly young women. Twenty-six girls and the foreman, Mr. Edward Jones, were at work in one of the sheds – a corrugated-iron and brick structure – between eight and nine o’clock in the morning when a fire suddenly occurred, followed by a report, and the structure was quickly enveloped in flames. Of the number who were engaged at the time only a dozen escaped unhurt, beyond suffering from shock. The names of the victims are:

DEAD: Miss R. CRADDOCK, aged 18, of Arthurstreet, Erith, Miss D. STURTIVANT, 18, Manor-road, Erith, Miss R. TURTLE, 22, West-street, Erith, Miss E. L. LAMB. 23, Upper-road, Belvedere, Miss ALICE HARVEY, Arthur-street, Erith, Miss G. E. HERBERT, 23. Friday-road, Erith, Miss A. SWEENEY, 17, Friday-road, Erith, Miss S. M. HUNTLEY, 20, Oxford-terrace, Erith, Miss E. E. DALTON, 24, Lewis-road, Welling, Miss A. SMITH, 18, Powell-street, Erith, Miss E. PULLEN, 18, Bexley-road. Foreman E. JONES, Dalmaire-road, Forest-hill.

INJURED: Miss E. ALLEN, 19, Alexander-road, Erith, Miss Ivy COSHILL, Erith.

The shed in which the disaster occurred was within a few hundred yards of the Disposal Board’s works, and not very far from the Thames Ammunition Works, which has a well-trained welfare staff, whose members readily gave valuable aid. A message was quickly despatched to the neighbouring fire brigades. But in the meantime the brigade of Messrs. Gilbert were on the ground, and turned their hose on the flames. The structure was quickly burnt down, and nothing remained but twisted iron, burnt wood, and broken bricks. A sad and distressing sight was the discovery of human remains among the charred débris. The bodies of the victims were removed to an adjoining structure, and the two injured girls were conveyed in an ambulance to the Erith Cottage Hospital. Miss Allen was found to be seriously injured, but Miss Coshill, who is a cousin of the forewoman, was only slightly hurt, and was able to return home later in the day.

So sudden was the outbreak that there was little chance of escape for the majority of the girls, who were trapped by the flames and smoke. The forewoman, who had just given out some work, was standing near a door, and she and a number of girls who were close by succeeded in getting outside before the flames had time to spread. The bodies that were later recovered were so burnt as to be beyond recognition. Only two, it is said, could be identified – one, that of the foreman, and another found a short distance from the ruins. It is thought that this poor girl had just managed to get out of the building before she collapsed.

During the morning Major Cooper-key, Chief Inspector of Explosives, arrived from the Home Office and inspected the factory in company with Major Mckenna, Chief Safety Officer of the Disposals Board, Captain A. Mcdonald, late of the Royal Artillery, who is a resident officer at the premises, and Mr. S. G. Pepler, the works manager. After his inspection Major Cooper-key informed a representative of The Daily Telegraph that a full investigation as to the cause of the disaster would be made. Until that had taken place it was impossible to state how the fire occurred. “Every precaution,” he added, “seems to have been taken against accident.”