InkyBill Posted 3 December , 2003 Share Posted 3 December , 2003 Over the last few days i've been looking at the 6th Bn London Regiment, this unit had offices at 57a Farringdon Road. Outside 59 to 61 Farringdon Road (Right next door) is a plaque on which appear the following words: These premises were totally destroyed by a Zeppelin Raid during the World War on September 8th 1915. (Rebuilt 1917) Does anyone have any other info on this event ? Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pete Wood Posted 3 December , 2003 Share Posted 3 December , 2003 The premises at number 61 Farringdon Road was destroyed by the bombs from Zeppelin L13, commanded by Kapitanleutnant Mathy, Germany's most respected airship officer. The stick of bombs that fell here also affected Queen Square (a bronze plaque is to be found in the North end of the garden, by the crazy paving), Bartholomew Close, and Lambs Conduit Passage. If you go into the nearby Dolphin public house, the clock still remains at the time the bomb fell and caused the clock to stop. The largest bomb to be dropped so far, at 300Kg, was in the stick that was dropped here. Mathy called this bomb his 'Love Gift.' If you search on the Forum for "Henry Coombs" you will find that one of our forum member's is related to this unfortunate casualty of this raid, and has the reports from the Fire Brigade. Subsequent bombs fell in the City warehouses and resulted in damage of £500,000. This was the worst material damage for any raid and accounted for nearly 20% of the total air raid damage on England. The cast iron Farringdon plaque was laid by John Phillips, Governing Director. There is a shop selling Telescopes at your address, now, I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat Posted 3 December , 2003 Share Posted 3 December , 2003 I can tell you this - my Dad was born on 9 Sept 1915 as a direct result of this raid. Family legend has it that his poor mother was coming home from "the pictures" on the bus when the bombs started falling. Pretty shocking as I think this was only the 2nd(?) ever attack on British civilians in the war (or any war) and not what a pregnant lady expected after going out to see a film. Decades before the Blitz of course. Anyway, it was enough to send her into labour and the rest is history. He is still alive so I'll let him know these fascinating details. Oh yes, my grandparents had married and had a 4 day "honeymoon" exactly 9 months before in early Dec 1914 while Grandad's unit (Civil Service Rifles) was in Watford waiting to go to France. So I have a lot to be grateful for! Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fair Posted 3 December , 2003 Share Posted 3 December , 2003 and here is a photo of said plaque... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pete Wood Posted 3 December , 2003 Share Posted 3 December , 2003 I can tell you this - my Dad was born on 9 Sept 1915 as a direct result of this raid. Pat, I have come across a few other stories similar to that of your father. If you look at the following page on the Essex Police History Website, scroll down to the paragraph immediately before the bottom photo. It tells how a baby girl was born, just after a Zeppelin was downed outside their house, and was christened Zeppelina Clark. Sadly Zeppelina Williams (nee Clark) died just recently, only two weeks before I was supposed to interview her. Charles - great photo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat Posted 3 December , 2003 Share Posted 3 December , 2003 A big thank you to you both (Charles and Racing teapots) I'll give all this info to my Dad. I'm glad to say his name is Alan and not Zeppelino! While we're on the subject of Zeppelins, another bit of family lore... Great Grandfather on my mother's side, so totally unrelated to Dad's birth(!) was on the Cuffley searchlight crew which fixed on Leefe Robinson's Zeppelin long enough for him to shoot it down. The searchlight crew each got a letter from the King. I am positive a saw this letter when my grandmother was alive, but we can't find it anywhere now The searchlight crew were all RNVR by the way and manned the searchlights every night after a full days work in their normal jobs. Great grandfather would have been 51 at the time. His name was Alex Capern Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InkyBill Posted 4 December , 2003 Author Share Posted 4 December , 2003 Wow!!!! When i said does anyone have any info on the said raid i never expected such a response. Teapots your right there is a shop selling telescopes at that address. Queens Sq, Lambs Conduit Passage and Bartholowmew Close (A war memorial stands outside the Church in West Smithfield) are a fair distance in both directions from Farringdon Road, i'm surprised the bombs reached such a radius. Wonderful photo Charles and Pat, thats a great piece of family history, I'm sure i speak for everyone on the forum when i send best wishes to your father. Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris basey Posted 10 December , 2003 Share Posted 10 December , 2003 I have access to part of the Daily Sketch for Saturday October 14 1916. Front page photo of 3 Lieuts - Robinson, Sowrey and Tempest. Also photo of Lt Tempest with his four serving brothers. Daily Sketch Thursday October 5 1916: Front page photos of Robinson and Cuffley and seperate picture of Lieut Brandon who was awarded MC for attacking the airship that sank in the Thames Estuary at the end of March. Might be able to do copies if anyone really interested - please contact off forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now