The tragic tale of the St Anne's Drownings - July 1930
Late 2022, I was sat in the
Lytham Archives on Bannister Street browsing through 1930 editions of the
Lytham St Annes Express when the above headline jumped off the page. A headline
that if seen today would rightly make national and perhaps international news.July 9th, 2023, marks
the 93rd anniversary of one of St Annes’ worst tragedies. It may
also have been one of the worst beach drownings in the history of the United
Kingdom.
Up until recently, I was completely unaware of this tragedy. I suspect
that I am not the only one.Since that time, I’ve conducted
further research from the newspapers of the day and the internet. This has only
increased my interest in the circumstances that surrounded the drownings. On
numerous occasions I’ve found myself lying awake in the quiet hours thinking
about that particular Wednesday in July 1930. It’s an incredibly sad story but one
that needs to be told. The majority of this article is taken from the reports
that appeared in the Lytham St Annes Express.
On or around July 1st,
1930, a group of ninety-one boys and staff from the St Aidan’s Nautical School
for Roman Catholic Boys arrived in St Annes-on-the-Sea for a fortnight’s
camping holiday. The school was based in the Farnworth district of Widnes which
at that time was in Lancashire. It is not known how they travelled from Widnes to
the coast, but I assume that it was by train. They encamped at Blackpool Road
across from Jameson’s Farm at the junction with Leach Lane, St Annes.
THE
SCHOOL
Back in the early 19th century, a boy of only nine years of age was sentenced to death, (although not executed), for stealing a small amount of paint. Elsewhere, two boys aged fifteen were transported by ship to the penal colonies in Australia for seven years after stealing a pair of boots. Such harsh sentences were rightly questioned by many and as the century progressed, an experimental reformatory school system was put in place for young offenders.
As an alternative to prison and other excessive punishments, the newly established reform schools provided outdoor industrial training combined with both academic and religious teaching. Convicted juveniles under the age of sixteen could be pardoned if they attended a Certified Reformatory School for a period of two to five years.
Amongst the Reformatory Schools for boys were three naval training ships, the Akbar on the Mersey, the Cornwall on the Thames and the Clarence that was specifically for Roman Catholic boys, also on the Mersey.
In 1899, the training ship Clarence was destroyed by fire and was replaced by a land-based successor, the St Aidan’s Nautical School for Roman Catholic Boys that was situated at Norland Lane in the Farnworth district of Widnes.
St Aidan’s Nautical School for
Roman Catholic Boys, Widnes
During November 1905,
the School was certified as a Reformatory that could accommodate 125 Roman
Catholic boys aged 12 to 16. As well as seamanship, the boys were taught
tailoring, boot and shoe making, knitting, carpentry, farm and garden work.
Boys could also develop musical skills through membership of the school’s
military band.
There is little doubt that
such schools had a strict and often brutal disciplinary regime. In 1910 an
account of serious ill-treatment of boys at the Akbar Nautical Training School
was published that detailed the caning of boys who were ill as malingerers.
Other boys were drenched with freezing
water and made to stand up all night for trivial misdemeanours. It was further
alleged that boys had died because of such punishments.
We know that the boys from St
Aidan’s Nautical School who visited St Annes in the summer of 1930 had been found
guilty of committing offences that warranted them being sent to the
Reformatory. We do not know what those offences were. It is fair to assume that
they were from poor backgrounds and that they were members of families that faced
challenging circumstances. Perhaps they had to steal to live, maybe they got in
with the wrong crowd or perhaps they were just ‘bad lads.’ We can only
speculate.
We do know that following
conviction, they were packed off to St Aidan’s in Widnes, often hundreds of
miles from their homes and families and that it was highly likely that they knew
nobody when they arrived at the imposing reformatory.
THE EVENTS OF WEDNESDAY JULY 9TH
1930
The boys had been at their camp for about eight days before they were allowed to visit the beach for the first time to bathe. On the morning of Wednesday July 9th, the boys were marched from the camp at Blackpool Road to the shore. The section of beach visited was close to the Blackburn Home about a mile and a half north of St Annes Pier where the coastline was fringed with sandhills.
I imagine that the boys were
full of excitement and like many of us today, were invigorated by the big skies
and endless horizons of the beautiful beach. Many of the boys were from inland towns
and cities so I expect that it was breath-taking to experience the massive
sense of space and that they were carefree for one of the few times in their
troubled short lives.
The Lytham St
Annes Express reported that the boys entered the water about high tide, shortly
after 11am. The day was pleasant although the seas were a little choppy. In the
manner of high-spirited boys, they were soon splashing about and enjoying
frolics in the water. The first indication that anything was wrong was when
someone saw
George Barton throwing up his hands frantically and shouting, ‘Save me! Save
me!'
An alarm was
raised, and a school fellow (James Hoskins), bravely entered the water and
pulled Barton, (Aged 15 from Warwick), ashore semi-conscious. Mr Welsby and Mr
Roberts, who were both convalescing at the Blackburn and District Home following
illness, were on the beach and quickly offered assistance.
"We applied artificial
respiration,” said Mr Welsby, "and kept it going for about twenty-five minutes
and he came round all right.” It was then noticed
that other boys were throwing up their arms, but it was thought this was only
in fun.
At 11-30am, a whistle was
blown for the boys to come out of the sea to fall in and return to the school.
At the roll call, it was discovered that six of the boys were missing.
The waters, which
were then on the ebb and choppy, were scanned with binoculars but no one could
be seen. Mr Welsby went on to tell the reporter:
"We waded out for nearly
100 yards, and then I saw a body. I called Mr. Roberts, and we brought him close
to shore. I lay down in the water and Mr. Roberts put the boy on my back, using
me as a table. and he applied artificial respiration for about twenty minutes.
We then left the body in charge of a constable. "At this moment the boys
brought another of their comrades out of the water, but he was apparently
beyond human aid."
One of the boys from the
school, Augustine Panetta told the reporter:
“Two lifesavers went into the
water and brought out Thomas Rogers. He was dead. Joseph Clough, John
Durkin and I saw a body floating on the water. We all three dashed into the sea
and brought him out. He was James Ellis, and he was dead.”
"We went further down the beach, and with
the assistance of a man we went into the sea again and brought out John
Halligan. He was also dead. We went down the beach further still, and on
the shore were the bodies of George Fitzgerald and Sidney Barker.”
“They had been washed up.
Going down the beach still further we saw Cyril Marchant lying at the
edge of the sea, and we carried him out.”
Miss Lloyd, matron of the Thursby Convalescent
Home told the reporter: "The
first I knew of it," she said, “was when Mr. McDonald, the second in
charge with Mr. McAvoy from the group, came across, and said there was a boy
drowning on the front. I informed the police and
summoned Doctor Staley.” Inspector
Rosbotham, Sergeant Ormerod and several constables including Johnson and Lord were
quickly on the scene, and everybody in the vicinity rendered all possible
assistance. Artificial respiration was applied for some time by Miss Lloyd and members
of the police force, but without success.
Understandably, very distressing scenes were witnessed when the bodies were brought out of the water and laid on the shore prior to their removal. Many of the boys from the camp cried bitterly at the loss of their school-friends, and some of them had the mournful task of helping to carry their dead comrades across the sands to a motor vehicle which took them to the mortuary.
HOW COULD THE TRAGEDY HAVE HAPPENED?
At 11am, seven fit and healthy boys
went into the sea off St Annes Beach with smiles on their faces. An hour later,
and after facing the terror of drowning, one was barely alive after twenty
minutes of artificial respiration whilst six others lay dead on the sand. Out
of the six boys who drowned, all of them aside from Cyril Marchant were
reported to be strong swimmers.
The Lytham St Annes Express
reported at that time that in the previous thirty years there had been six
previous drowning incidents, some involving the death of more than one person.
The danger points were listed as (1) Just beyond the pier, (2) At the end of the
promenade, near the Ormerod Home and (3) Opposite the Thursby Home.
It was said that at all three of these spots
there were sandbanks about one hundred yards out from the shingle as well as inner
channels that filled rapidly at high water and were out of the depth of those
who had been playing unguardedly on the sandbank or that ran out with equal
swiftness when the tide turned, sweeping swimmers off their feet with the
strength of its undercurrent.
This modern-day photo of the scene
from above shows how the appearance of the beach being flat from ground level
can be deceptive and since the tragedy of 1930 there have been further
instances of drownings off the beach.
Importantly, the two convalescents
from the Blackburn Home, who helped in the battle to save the lives of the boys,
Mr. Albert Welsby, a butcher, Douglas Street, Wigan, and Mr. B. Roberts, a
colliery worker, of Haydock reported the following:
“We had to relinquish our hold
of the body of one of the boys for a few minutes in order to save our own lives.”
"It was just when we were
getting near the shore,” Mr Welsby said, "that the sand seemed suddenly to
give way, and we found ourselves up to our knees in the sand. We had to let go
of the boy for a moment or two whilst we extricated ourselves. It was an
unnerving experience.”
"The curious thing is
that I have been bathing for the last four days,' Mr Roberts added, "and
each time the sand was firm. On Wednesday it was just like slipping into some
quicksand. The cause of it may have been the ebb tide. There was a very strong
current running at the time, and it may have softened the sand in some way. The
nearer we got to St Annes, the more gripping the sand became.”
THE
VICTIMS
George Fitzgerald (15), 9,
Ponton Road, Nine Elms Lane, Battersea
Sydney Barker (16), 37,
Clough Street, Burnley
Thomas Patrick Rogers (16),
102, Barth Road, Plumstead, London
James Ellis (16), 73, Sweden
Street, Waterloo, Liverpool
John Halligan (16), 45,
Brown Street, St. Helens
Cyril Marchant (16), 22,
Commercial Road, Great Harwood
Perhaps the saddest part of this awful tale is the aftermath of the tragedy. Mr. Billington, the headmaster of the school, declined to make any statement or to permit any of the officers of the camp to do so. When the Press visited, the boys in the camp understandably appeared to be very depressed and were gathered in the centre of the group of tents.
In an adjoining field there was
a camp of the Burnley Boys' Brigade, and the Burnley boys were on the road with
them at the same time on Wednesday morning just prior to the disaster. The flag
at the Burnley boys' camp was at half-mast as a mark of sympathy.
THE INQUEST
The inquest into the drownings
took place only two days after the tragedy on Friday July 11th, 1930, at St
Annes. The inquest was opened by the Deputy Coroner, Mr. W. Blackhurst. Mr.
Scruby, H.M. Inspector of Home Office Schools, and officials of the Liverpool
Catholic Reformatory Association were also in attendance. The inquest was
delayed for a time while the Deputy Coroner and Home Office representative
visited the scene of the tragedy.
Several of the boys that
attended the camp gave evidence, one of them, James Hoskins, stating that
instruction was given by Mr. McAvoy that they were not to go too far out, and
that the small boys were not to go past the big boys. When he was about 100 yards
from the water- line with George Barton, George Birkenhead and Reginald Gill,
he heard Barton shout "Lord, save me!" Sometimes he could touch the
bottom and sometimes not. They were in kind of basin. Barton was assisted out.
When they were coming out, he did not see anyone in difficulties.
Barton admitted that when he
swam out and could not touch the bottom, he got a bit panicky. After other
evidence had been given, Mr. Edward Billington, headmaster of the school, who
was deeply affected, said that if ever he sent a party to bathe again, he would
arrange for a boatman to be on duty, and for the master to go into the water
with the boys. This was a suggestion of the Home Office made three years ago
with the object of preventing such accidents. At the point where the tragedy
occurred it was level, and they had never thought that a mishap could occur.
The boys had been bathing there every summer for eight years without any
previous incident.
THE CORONER'S COMMENTS - The
Coroner, addressing, the jury, said it was one of, the most shocking tragedies
that had ever occurred on that coast. He said it was a matter for the jury to
say whether the protection afforded by the presence of the two masters was
adequate. The Home Office instruction was that the masters should go in with
the boys, and a boat be provided. It was a little difficult to understand how
these boys came to be drowned at all.
"We can only assume that
the boys got out of their depth and got drowned. It is extraordinary that no
one seems to know exactly what took place." It might be, he said, that
they would have something to say about the coast in order that they might
safeguard the public in future.
They might think something in
the form of notice should be put up saying where it was safe to bathe and also
saying where the runs were.
The
Coroner also expressed sympathy with the relatives of the unfortunate lads in
the terrible tragedy, the like of which he hoped would never occur on that or
any other coast.
HOME SECRETARY'S MESSAGE -
Addressing the two constables, PC's Johnson and Lord, of St. Annes Police, and
Mr. Roberts and Mr. Welsby, two patients at an adjacent convalescent home, for
the prompt manner in which they acted, the Coroner said the jury had asked him
to tell them they highly commended their action. It was very good work they did
in trying to save these boys’ lives. He hoped the authorities would see that
their good work was properly rewarded.
A verdict of "Accidental
death' was returned. The jury, after a retirement of an hour, expressed the
view that in cases where a large number of young people were bathing together
there should be proper supervision.
A telegram was read at the close of the inquest from Mr. J. R. Clynes, M.P, the Home Secretary in which he expressed his deep grief at the tragedy.
THE BURIALS (Taken from the Lytham St Annes express)
The burial for five of the six
victims took place on Monday July 21st, 1930, and began with Requiem Mass at the Catholic Church of Our Lady
Star-of-the-Sea where the bodies had reposed overnight. The service was conducted
by the Reverend Father Scott, Reverend Father Ryan and the Reverend Father
Kennedy. The coffins lay in a row near
the altar, three tall lighted candles at each side, and upon these a
congregation which packed the beautiful church looked reverently as the solemn
rites proceeded.
Before the service began the
father of Jimmy Ellis, a grey-haired old man, was so affected by grief that he
partially collapsed and had to be helped out of the church.
He was placed on a chair in
the grounds, and sipped from a glass of water, and was afterwards taken into
the presbytery to rest until the cortege left for the cemetery. Later, an elder
brother of the boy Ellis, was similarly overcome, and made his way to a waiting
motor car on the arms of two men.
Swelling organ music sent a
message of solace to the bereaved, and the singing was led by the shrill young
voices of St. Aidan's boys who stood in the gallery choir stalls.
The life of a busy seaside
resort was hushed as, one by one, the coffins were carried out of the church by
members of the St. Annes Young Men's Catholic Guild, out into the sunshine
which had just then broken through the grey skies. Traffic came to a
standstill, and thousands of people, few of
them with dry eyes, bowed their heads as the caskets were placed reverently
into five waiting motor hearses. Sadly, the mourners, some in all-black, others
with crepe bands on their arms, filed into the cars, and then the cortege,
headed by the boys' band, playing a slow march, started its two miles' journey
to the Lytham Park Cemetery.
The route lay between the
stately houses of St. Annes Road East. Nearly every blind was drawn. Gardeners
ceased their work among lovely flowers to pay their tribute, a solitary postman
saluted, and nurses in the windows of St. Annes War Memorial Hospital paused in
their duties to gaze down upon a poignant procession.
A turn in the road, and
mansions gave way to whitewashed farmhouse and cottage. Here it was the same.
Farm labourers, caps in hand, lined the road, and one man, who had been
wielding a billhook, stood with bare head and tears in his eyes, looking over
the top of a hawthorn hedge. There was something inexpressibly sorrowful about
those five coffins. Even a motor coach, pleasure-bound for Blackpool, halted,
driver, and passengers hatless, as the procession passed by.
The funeral cortege then reached the cemetery. Away from the sound of the sea which had turned joy into tragedy, the bodies had been borne through a town of mourning into a haven of peace. The grave, on the side of a slight eminence, was set amid a vista of parkland and woodland in the ‘Garden of sleep.’ The delight of these surroundings seemed to emphasise the poignancy of the scene.
Round the newly dug earth, were grouped sombrely
clad relatives from many parts of the country. The mayor (Coun. A J Price), the
Town Clerk (Mr W Heap) and other members of Lytham St Annes Corporation marked
a municipality’s grief. The sturdy boys of the St
Aidan’s School were there, dressed in dark grey suits and brave in their
efforts to stifle tears to say goodbye to their colleagues, the band standing
to attention over crepe-covered drums.
The men from the Blackburn Convalescent
Home who had taken part in the rescue work of the drama on the sands joined the
sad company. In an outer circle, at a respectful distance, were members of the
public, many of them holidaymakers in summer clothes. Suddenly, the silence,
which had been broken only by the solemn intoning of a priest and the sound of
coffins coming to rest on the clayey earth, was broken by the consoling words
of the hymn, “Take me to thy Sacred Heart.”
Simultaneously, the burial of
their comrade, Sidney Barker, of Burnley, was taking place in his hometown. The
casket in his case was an exact replica of the others (See below).
Following the soul-stirring
trumpet notes of “The Last Post,” the scattering of soil upon polished oak by
weeping fathers and mothers and affected school pals, a funeral procession
unparalleled in Lytham St Annes’ history moved away.
One father was so overcome that
he had to be supported by friends. They tried to lead him away, but he resisted
their efforts, tearing himself away for one look at his son’s grave. A mother,
a companion on each side of her, turned from the spot in a state of great
distress, crying as though her heart would break, and spectators with no
connection to the tragedy other than a compelling sympathy, fainted and had to
be attended by policemen.
Each body was enclosed in an oak casket, with brass fittings, bearing a silver representation of the crucifix and the names of the dead boys.
Flowers were also left - flowers
from the Home Office, choice flowers gathered in the garden of the Thursby Home
and sent by the matron and children, flowers in the form of an anchor from the
Blackburn Convalescent Home, flowers from many of the forty-eight relatives who
attended the funeral when only twenty were expected, flowers from
"Granny," flowers from "Baby," flowers from unknown
sympathisers. and flowers from the National Spiritualist Church -
Beneath
the roll of soundless waves our best and bravest lie,
Give
us to feel their spirits live Immortal in the sky.
The funeral of Sidney Barker in
Burnley – Taken from the Burnley News
Much public sympathy was
manifested in connection with the funeral, of the Burnley boy. Sidney Barker,
one of the victims of the Blackpool camp bathing tragedy on Wednesday last
week. The lad, with a large number of others, from the Nautical Training School
at Farnworth, near Widnes, was at a holiday camp on the sand dunes between
Blackpool and St. Annes, when through getting beyond their depth while bathing,
he and five others were. drowned.
Barker's home address, as
mentioned in Saturday's issue, was 37, Clough Street, Accrington Road, where he
lived with his stepfather and his mother,
Mr. and Mrs. Ackroyd, before going to the school at Farnworth in August last
year. The lad's father, Mrs. Ackroyd's first husband, was killed in the war.
The funeral took place from
37, Clough-street, on Monday afternoon, large numbers of the people of the
district lining the street when the cortege started for the cemetery. Father
Early, of St. Mary Magdalene's, said prayers at the home, and Father Hardman,
of St. Augustine's, officiated at the cemetery. The mourners included Mr. and
Mrs. Ackroyd, Miss Mary Barker and Miss Annie Ackroyd (sisters of the lad), Mr.
and Mrs. Barker (grandparents), Mr. and Mrs. Talbot (grandparents), Mr. Joe
Barker (uncle),
Mrs.
Berry, Mr. and Mrs. Houghton, Mr. Jas Talbot, and Mr. Collinge.
There was a carriage full of
floral tributes. and these included, besides flowers from the family and
relatives and others, a remembrance from "His pals at Burnley” sent by
former companions of the deceased in the neighbourhood of his home. The burial
was in a grave at the western end of the cemetery.
Mr. and Mrs. Ackroyd have
received a letter expressing sincere sympathy with them in their loss, from Mr.
A. G. Cameron, M.P. for Widnes. and Mrs. Cameron.
----------------------------------------
To his major credit, the paper
reported that local Councillor Arthur Rawstron interested himself in providing
a memorial to all six of the boys and several kind (unnamed) local sympathisers
readily came forward and enabled a beautiful headstone to be placed on the
grave.
The work was designed and executed
by Messrs. George Rushfirth and Sons of St. Annes, who provided a monument in
Carrara white marble, ‘exquisite in artistic taste.’
Over the inscription, in relief, was
a female figure bearing in her hands a laurel wreath. The grave was enclosed by
a white marble curb.
The inscription reads as follows:
R.I.P.
Of your Charity Pray for the Souls of:
Sydney
Barker aged 16 years
James Ellis
aged 16 years
George
Fitzgerald aged 15 years
John
Halligan aged 16 years
Edmund C.
Marchant aged 16 years
Thomas P.
Rogers aged 16 years
who were
drowned while bathing from the shore, St. Annes-on-the-Sea, July 9th, 1930
The
memorial to the tragedy paid for thanks to the generosity of the people of Lytham
St Annes pictured at the time of the burial.
The Roman Catholic section of the
Park Cemetery is a lot busier these days, but the memorial is relatively easy
to find if you know where to look. Each time I visit the cemetery, I always go
across and look at it. Unsurprisingly, it has few if any other visitors. There
will now be no direct descendants and if there are any living relatives, then
they would be spread far and wide throughout the country (I am currently making
efforts to trace them if it’s possible). As such, the memorial now looks to be
untended aside from general maintenance and flowers are rarely ever seen.
In addition, after ninety-three
years of facing directly into the worst of the Fylde Coast weather, the
memorial has now deteriorated. The engraved inscriptions have faded along with our
collective memory of the tragedy. The white marble curve at the foot of the
grave has become overgrown.
The
memorial as it looks today
It is not for me to tell
individuals, businesses, charities or councils how to spend their money, but the
memorial marks a hugely important event in the history of St Annes.
The boys led short and troubled
lives and in death they now only have the people of Lytham and St Annes. As
such, and if it is at all possible, I think it would be highly appropriate if the
badly deteriorating memorial might one day be fully restored or maybe replaced with a replica of the
original along with a blessing from one of the local Roman Catholic priests.
© Mick Downer, March 2023
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