Mr W. E. Tunmore

[Boris]

Now, here is one for the RMweb chaps, I'm looking into the death of Mr Tunmore, an NER Rulleyman based in Whitby who was killed in December '14 when the German Fleet shelled the town. I have the authority on the raid Bombardment by Marsay and it lists casualties, damage and a street by street gazetteer.

 

Anyway, my question is I believe that this gentleman is the first railwayman to be killed in the line of duty by an attack on British soil, the date and my other research supports this, but do the Rmweb experts know any different?

 

Reason for asking is that in 2 and a bit years time it will be the 100th anniversary of the raid and I believe that a plaque/memorial should be placed for this gentleman and I am making sure I get my facts right before starting to make noises,

[Andy Y]

I can't help you but I support the gesture!

[The Stationmaster]

Excellent idea. I think the only earlier possibility would be if any railwaymen were killed or fatally wounded during the shelling of Scarborough when railway premises were definitely hit by German naval gunfire.

 

The only previous attacks on British soil (Whitehaven 1778 and Tenby/Pembroke area in 1797) predated the railway age by a goodly number of years of course.

[trisonic]

Hartlepool also suffered damage on the same day as Scarborough including "the Railway"..... Problem is that any railwaymen killed would be under "civilian casualties" which listed in the hundreds.

 

Some major digging out of facts would be required otherwise counter claims would come out of the woodwork.

 

Best, Pete.

[grandadbob]

Hi Boris,

 

Not an answer to your question but I'm sure I've seen this raid mentioned in the last couple of years in a TV programme. Whether it was about the raid itself or just about one of the towns involved I cannot remember,

 

Bob.

 

P.S. I'm assuming you've probably seen this:

 

http://www.thewhitby...1_raids_pg2.htm

[Coombe Barton]

This link works

http://www.thewhitbyseagull.co.uk/whitby_history_ww1_raids_pg2.html

[The Stationmaster]

Hartlepool also suffered damage on the same day as Scarborough including "the Railway"..... Problem is that any railwaymen killed would be under "civilian casualties" which listed in the hundreds.

 

Some major digging out of facts would be required otherwise counter claims would come out of the woodwork.

Best, Pete.

 

The order in which the raids occurred does - hopefully - settle where Boris needs to look. The only raids in December 1914 (all on the same day) which caused casualties were - in chronological order - Scarborough, Whitby, and Hartlepool.

 

Thus even if any railwaymen were killed at Hartlepool the man who was killed at Whitby would still have been before them. And he would indeed have been the first if no railwaymen had been killed in the shelling of Scarborough as no other attacks had been made on mainland Britain previously which had resulted in casualties or fatalities in the railway age.

[Boris]

Running through the gazetteer mentioned above there is no mention of any injury sustained to any railway personnel on duty at the time of the '14 raid. There was some damage to the railway area following the U-boat shelling of 1916.

 

The only source information I have at the time suggests that the railway was not damaged in the '14 raid as trains were leaving Scarborough packed out as people thought the Germans were invading, there are stories of the NER not letting people through the ticket barrier until they had paid up, although trains were being flagged down at Seamer in the fields as more folks tried to join them. Stories of the crowds having "whip rounds" for those a penny or two short of a ticket price are rife, along with people arriving at Kings Cross in nightwear with only the clothes on their back and being mobbed by journalists wanting first hand accounts. Bombardment truly is a definitive blow by blow account of the shelling along with contemporary photos.

[The Stationmaster]

This link includes a list of fatalities (by name and their age) plus locations damaged and the latter includes 'Goods station, damage to house, signal box , and goods yard'. The goods yard was faced onto Falsgrave Road where 13 houses were damaged (mainly broken windows) but there was one female casuualty noted as "falsgrave Road; although whether she lived there or was killed there I don't know.

 

The trains leaving Scarborough would no doubt have been leaving from the main passenger station and thus were not immediately adjacent to the goods station but there was also damage and a fatality on Londsborough Road which is near to the railway.

 

http://www.scarborou...bombardment.php

[micklner]

Some info

 

 

 

http://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6611&hilit=hartlepool

[Vin]

My house in Scarborough was hit in the attack and next door was demolished by it. I live a five minute walk from both the station and the former gallows close goods yard.

 

Vin