6 Children Die in Cheltenham Bomb Blast Disaster, Easter Weekend 1941
Held In Honour
The hills of the rolling country of the Cotswolds had, of necessity, become training grounds for the new armies which Britain needed to defeat the Axis. Their close proximity to the towns resulted in the avid interest, not only by local residents of their activities, but also by hoards of children - young adolescents, eager to absorb this new phenomenon and to gain a foretaste of what might, in course of time, be their destiny. Any fragment of material equipment left behind from these exercises became a desirable trophy and herein lay the seeds of disaster.
During the Easter weekend of 1941, Percy Mitchell, the fourteen year old son of Alfred Mitchell, a general labourer of 50 Worcester Street, had set off with some friends to search an area known to have been used by soldiers in training. Here they found an unexploded trench mortar bomb. Mitchell took possession of this treasure and apparently attempted, on several occasions, to set it off by hurling it at some rocks. Having failed to obtain the desired effect, he came to the conclusion that it was harmless and took it home where, over the course of the next few days, it became an object of wonder amongst the younger children in the area adjacent to the lower High Street where he lived.
Three days after finding the bomb, Percy Mitchell and a number of younger children congregated on an area of open ground in Worcester Street. It transpired that Percy was intent on breaking open the bomb with a hammer - convinced, no doubt, that it was harmless. A crowd of onlookers gathered intently around him. Suddenly there was a loud explosion, followed by complete silence as a cloud of smoke drifted across the open ground. Residents from the nearby houses were soon on the scene where a terrible sight met their eyes. Five children had been killed outright by the blast and two others grievously wounded. An eighth child had miraculously escaped with minor injuries and shock.
Those killed were Kenneth Burford, aged nine, of 56 Worcester Street, Marion Easden, aged ten of 14 Elm Street, Trevor Wellings aged six, of 16 Worcester Street, John Chitty aged seven, of 11 Worcester Street and the instigator of the tragedy, Percy Mitchell. One of the badly injured, seven year old Beryl Lewis of 15 Elm Street died of shock and multiple injuries in hospital in the afternoon. Another eight year old girl lost an arm.
Immediately after the explosion, the bodies of the dead children were conveyed to the nearby St Peter's Hall for identification. In two cases, this could only be done by the clothing which they had worn. Death had been instantaneous, the children having taken the full force of the blast.
On Monday the 20th April 1941, a remarkable demonstration of sympathy took place when over two thousand relatives, friends, schoolchildren, public representatives and ordinary townspeople attended the memorial service and burial of the children. The church of St Peters was filled to capacity - many hundreds of people standing silently outside during the service, which was conducted by the Vicar, the Reverend S. J. Richards. With the exception of Trevor Wellings who is buried in a family plot, all the children lie buried side by side in Cheltenham Borough Cemetery. Unlike the victims of the Stoneville Street bombings, their graves are lovingly tended to this day.
The pattern of events was by no means isolated. Just a few weeks later, on a military firing range somewhere in south-east England, four young boys found another unexploded object which, on being thrown against a stone, exploded violently, killing two brothers aged eleven and eight and one twin brother aged eight. On the 11th February 1942, at Bourton Hill Quarry on the Cotswolds, one five-year old boy was killed and three others injured when a Mills grenade, which they had found, exploded on being dropped.
As the Nazi onslaught from the skies continued over Britain, a story of great courage by a young Cheltenham woman epitomised the pluck with which adversities were being met. Serving as a member of the Women's Royal Naval Service at Devonport, twenty-two year old Pam McGeorge, of Mead Road, volunteered as a motor-cycle despatch rider. During a particularly heavy bombing raid at her base, she set off with missiles falling all around her to deliver a message. One explosion blew her over, damaging the machine, but undaunted she continued through the devastation on foot for half a mile to Admiralty House, handing in her despatch and volunteering to carry others. Her bravery was recorded by the award of the British Empire Medal from the hands of King George VI at a ceremony later held at Buckingham Palace.
|
MITCHELL, Percy Kenneth Aged 14
50 Worcester Street, Cheltenham
Accidentally killed 17/4/1941
Percy Mitchell was the son of Alfred Mitchell, a general labourer of the above address. He was the instigator of the mortar bomb tragedy which killed him and five other children in Worcester Street on the 17th April 1941. He had found the bomb at one of the infantry training areas in the Cleeve Hill district, and brought it home with him several days before the accident. Having been told it was a practice bomb and having been unable to detonate by throwing it into one or more of the disused quarries on the hill, he had come to the conclusion that it was harmless. On attempting to dismantle it using a hammer, the explosion which killed him and the other children then took place. Mitchell, who attended St Peter's School, was described as having been very small for his age. His father stated that he had last seen his son alive on the night of Wednesday, 16th April. After the tragedy, he identified Percy's body at St Peter's Church Hall. He is buried in plot P/17977 in Cheltenham Borough Cemetery.
|
LEWIS, Beryl Eileen Aged 7
15, Elm Street, Cheltenham
Accidentally killed 17/4/1941
Beryl Lewis was the daughter of Mr Tom Lewis, (an employee of Cheltenham Brewery Company) and Mrs Clara Lewis of the above address, and sister to Bernard and Raymond Leslie Lewis. She was one of the six children who died as a result of the detonation of a mortar bomb on waste ground in Worcester Street on the morning of the 17th April 1941.
Beryl was critically injured and died at 15.15 hours in Cheltenham General Hospital. Although conscious when admitted, medical staff admitted that her chances of survival were slender. The cause of her death was recorded as shock and multiple injuries. Her mother gave explicit evidence to the Coroner at an inquest held at Cheltenham Police Station on the 10th May 1941. She stated that Beryl and her younger brother Bernard had gone out to play at about 10.45 hours, on waste land at the rear of the family home. She had been in the scullery when she heard an explosion and on looking out of a window, saw clouds of dust where the children had been playing. She rushed across and saw several children lying in a hole in the ground, amongst them being Beryl and Brian, the latter being miraculously uninjured. She picked Beryl up and carried her indoors, from where she was shortly transported by ambulance to hospital. Mrs Lewis went with her daughter to the hospital, staying with her until she died. The Coroner, Mr. J. D Lane asked Mrs Lewis if she had seen anything of the mortar bomb and she replied that, on Saturday, 11th April, her son Raymond had shown her something that she took to be a bomb which had been given to him by a friend, Percy Mitchell. She had told him to give it back and to alert Mitchell's father to hand it to the Police, since she did not consider it safe. She further stated that she thought the boy had done so and would not have allowed her children to play with it. Beryl is buried in Cheltenham Borough Cemetery, plot P/17974 alongside four of the other victims.
|
Wellings, Trevor Aged 5
16, Worcester Street, Cheltenham
Accidentally killed 17/4/1941
Trevor Wellings was the son of Alfred John Wellings, (a machinist at Gloster Aircraft Company) and Mrs Wellings, both of the above address. He was one of the six children killed by the explosion of a mortar bomb on the 17th April 1941. His father, who had been on a night-shift the previous day, had been in bed at the time of the explosion, which took place on a piece of waste ground next to the family home. he personally placed his son into one of the ambulances, but Trevor was pronounced dead upon arrival at Hospital. He is buried apart from the other children in plot C1/645 at Cheltenham Borough Cemetery.
|
This is an ariel view of the park believed to have been dedicated to the children who died.
|
More Soon
|
