Adrian Roberts Posted 24 November , 2004 Share Posted 24 November , 2004 This is probably one for Racing Teapots but if any one else can help that would be great.. My Great-Aunt Marjory once told us that her family moved from New Cross to Southend in 1915, and just before they moved the house next to (adjoining?) their new house in Southend was destroyed in "the first Zeppelin raid". Apparently the house was empty at the time so no one was hurt. Does this make any sense/ fit in with the facts in any research? I wish I'd valued my older relatives more when I was younger because its now too late to ask them anything else. Great-Aunt Marjory died Jan 2002 aged 93, having outlived my grandfather and three other brothers - so she would have been seven in 1915. Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 24 November , 2004 Share Posted 24 November , 2004 Hi Adrian, The first Zeppelin on Southend took place on the 10/5/15 by LZ38 commanded by Hauptmann Linnarz. It announced its arrival by first dropping an incendiary bomb that fell near the moored prison ship S.S. Royal Edward then dropped bombs over Southend itself. Then LZ38 made her way along the Thames until Canvey Island where she met fierce anti aircraft fire forcing Linnarz to turn back. Returning to Southend Linnarz dropped his remaining bombs over the town, causing considerable damage. One elderly woman was killed at 120 North Road, a Mrs Whitwell, her husband was in the same room but secaped with serious injuries. Other damage to the town was as follows West Road: The house of Mr. Pensan was set alight. Mr. Pensan, his wife, three children and their servant escaped by jumping from the windows Hamlet Court Road : The premises of Mr. Ainslie were damaged by fire. Summercourt Road : One house set alight Ceylon Road : Several bombs dropped in the garden of Dr. MacDonald North Road : An Incendiary bomb crashed through the roof of the house of Mr & Mrs Whitwell, killing Mrs. Agnes Whitwell as she lay in bed. Her husband was seriously injured in trying to extinguish the flames. Warrior Square : (Southchurch Road) Messrs Flaxmans timber yard was set alight and considerable damage done. Baxter Avenue : One house gutted , several bombs fell in the roadway and gardens. Harcourt Avenue : Bombs landed in the gardens to the rear of the houses on the north side. Richmond Road : Three bombs fell within a small area. One shattered a window a second fell in a back garden and a third in the roadway. MacDonald Avenue : One bomb fell here, in the playground of a childrens school, but no damage was done. On the Cliffs : A bomb dropped on the pavement near the flagstaff. Three bombs fell on the beach and one was picked up a short distance from a prison ship moored near the pier, upon which are about 1200 interned German civilians. The theory is that the Zeppelins at this time were trying to find a route to London by the Thames, certainly Southend had a few raids at this time with LZ38 trying again a few days later and bombing Southend again. There were some riots in Southend following these raids for which the troops stationed locally were turned out to quell (Rifle Brigade & Border Regiment). One of the local papers (Southend Standard) produced an Air Raid supplement after these raids which was not well received in government, it certainly makes interesting reading. The riots continued for some time with much anti German feeling. Adrian should you require any copies of any of the raids on Southend i have plenty of Newspaper footage etc etc that i can get to you as i have been researching these raids for some time. If your relation says that the house next door was gutted but empty it lends me to think that this was the house in Baxter Avenue (No55). Hope this answers your queries. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pete Wood Posted 24 November , 2004 Share Posted 24 November , 2004 All I can add to Andy's excellent summary is that this is the occasion on which one of the crew, on the airship, dropped a prevocative message - written in blue pencil on a piece of cardboard. It read: You English. We have come and will come again soon. Kill or cure. German. This was at the beginning of the bombing campaign, and the Zeppelins were flying around in broad daylight. The AA guns and home defence aircraft were not yet a threat. So to see something about the length of the Titanic hovering above you must have been truly terrifying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 24 November , 2004 Share Posted 24 November , 2004 Adrian, Just going through my files on Air raids on Southend and came across this, knew it was there somewhere, having sizing problems at the moment with my software so hope this comes out OK. This was the only house gutted, as described by your Great Auntie, without anyone in the building. Pete, thanks for the part about the note, i had forgotten about that whilst writing the summary, it landed in the garden of 11 Rayleigh Avenue. I live in Harcourt Avenue, Southend, where some of the bombs landed in the gardens, no damage to the house. However the front of my house was hit by a bomb in an air raid in the Second World War. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 24 November , 2004 Share Posted 24 November , 2004 Oh My, Thats awful, sorry, back to the drawing board with my software. Yuk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pete Wood Posted 24 November , 2004 Share Posted 24 November , 2004 How I hope things will look, once the WW1 civilian casualty project is complete Name: WHITWELL, AGNES FRANCES Initials: A F Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Civilian Regiment: Civilian War Dead Age: 60 Date of Death: 10/05/1915 Additional information: Of 120 North Road, Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea. A Salvation Army Officer for over 40 years. Died at 120 North Road. Casualty Type: Civilian War Dead Civilian Roll of Honour Section Air Raid 10/05/1915 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Compo Posted 24 November , 2004 Share Posted 24 November , 2004 Without wanting to highjack this topic which is so detailed about Zeppelin raids, can anyone point me to where I can learn about the Anti-aircraft side. My interest is concentrated around mid 1916 to mid 1917. Sorry Adrian, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pete Wood Posted 24 November , 2004 Share Posted 24 November , 2004 Without wanting to highjack this topic which is so detailed about Zeppelin raids, can anyone point me to where I can learn about the Anti-aircraft side. My interest is concentrated around mid 1916 to mid 1917. Sorry Adrian, Bill Bill, I suggest you start a new thread. I have a fair bit of info on locations and rounds fired, in 1916 (and earlier). After that my info is not as good. Here is the picture resized Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 24 November , 2004 Share Posted 24 November , 2004 Pete, Thank you for resizing the picture for me, ******* software, probably the user though Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Furnell Posted 24 November , 2004 Share Posted 24 November , 2004 Not sure if this is of any help,but found it the other day,and it mentions a bit about some later raids,by bombers,on Southend. The address isSpitfire museum. All the best. Simon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisM Posted 24 November , 2004 Share Posted 24 November , 2004 With another apology to Adrian….. I imagine that Zeppelin researchers, particularly those with an Essex connection, will already know of the following but just in case I’ll mention a book I stumbled across some time ago: Echoes of the Great War: The Diary of the Reverend Andrew Clark, 1914-19 (Oxford Paperbacks - Oxford Letters & Memoirs) Andrew Clark was the rector of Great Leighs in Essex. He maintained a diary from 1914 to 1919 relevant solely to the war and its effect on his parish. I recall that there were surprisingly frequent comments about overflying Zeppelins on specific dates. May be worth a delve if someone doesn’t know it already. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Noble Posted 24 November , 2004 Share Posted 24 November , 2004 Hi Adrian. Source, 'I was there in the Great War'. Caption speaks for itself. Regards, Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Roberts Posted 25 November , 2004 Author Share Posted 25 November , 2004 Thanks for all your trouble in replying, everyone. I will see if any of my living relatives remember the address the family lived at. Also, I wonder if its worth suggesting to the Forum moderators that they start a separate section for airships - there seem to be a lot of us around who are interested Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 25 November , 2004 Share Posted 25 November , 2004 Adrian, Glad that the articles were of interest. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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