Air raid dealt a deadly blow to community
IT was 1941 and World War Two was raging. For folk on the home front, it was a year when the conflict repeatedly arrived on North East doorsteps with deadly effect.
As one of Britain’s most productive areas of heavy industry, the region was vitally important to the supply of ships and armaments for the war effort.
Luftwaffe bombers, therefore, were quick to target our railways, factories, shipyards and bridges.
But there was a major problem – bombs intended for industrial targets sometimes went astray and civilians became casualties.
During 1941, air raids claimed hundreds of lives, injured many more, and destroyed buildings and homes in Newcastle’s East End, North Shields, Whitley Bay, Jarrow, South Shields and Sunderland.
And 80 years ago, on Tuesday, October 21, Hitler’s bombers delivered death and destruction to the heavily industrialised shipbuilding town of Hebburn on the south bank of the River Tyne.
One bomb landing in the town centre wiped out 15 lives in an instant – 12 ARPs (air raid patrol wardens), and three children. It was a terrible loss of life and a devastating blow to the close-knit community.
The initial newspaper reports, in accordance with strict press wartime guidelines, were circumspect with the details so as not to damage civilian morale or give potential propaganda to the enemy. Precise locations were avoided too.
The Shields Gazette of Wednesday, October 22, reported: “In one town considerable damage was done and there were many casualties, some fatal. One bomb fell on a depot and killed a number of men of the rescue party who were on duty. The majority of the men were volunteers.
“Another bomb fell in a street of cottages and several houses were wrecked and many damaged.
“Nearly all the people were in their shelters and escaped injury. Two children, however, who were in the back yard shelter, which were blown over by the blast were killed.”
Sometimes known locally as the ‘Glen Street bombing’, local historian Norman Dunn points out that those who died were either in the council yard, which was adjacent to Glen Street, or in Charles Street.
When the dust finally settled, the names of the tragic victims emerged. Those killed in the council yard were: Peter Atkins, 32; Stephen Chance 46; Thomas Jenkinson, 39; John Keegan, 39; Hugh Lynch, 29; Matty McCafferty, 35; Bernard McGivern, 19; Peter McGivern, 42; Peter McKenna, 42; Ernest Munro, 53; Jacob Robison, 40; and Edward Wheatley, 38. The children killed in Charles Street were: James Scott, three; Jane Douglass, five: and Thomas Tracey, eight.
As was commonplace during the war, the grieving was done in private and, over time, the tragedy slipped from local memory.
In recent years, Norman Dunn, along with Michael Lynch, whose uncle Hugh was killed in the attack two weeks after getting married, and Trish Conway, have raised money for a plaque finally commemorating the terrible events of that night 80 years ago.
One bomb fell on a depot and killed a number of men on duty Shields Gazette
It was due to be unveiled last year, but that was postponed due to the pandemic.
Now, the plaque is due to be unveiled, not far from where the tragedy occurred, at the Iona Club,
Station Road, Hebburn, on Thursday, October 21, at 11.30am.
It is planned that Betty Forster (nee Atkins) will perform the unveiling. Betty was just 11 months old when her father Peter Atkins was killed. He should have been at home after finishing his shift, but instead he stayed behind to cover an absentee.
Members of the public are invited to attend the ceremony and enjoy refreshments afterward.