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Recollections of Pilton
The Bomb
1940 |
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Recollections
1.
John Ross, known as
Ian Ross
Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England |
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Thank you to John Ross who wrote: |
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Bomb
"I remember a bomb
hitting a house near school and one past Embassy Picture House.
I had a great friend, James Nolan, who lived near the Embassy
but I have lost all contact with him." |
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Recollections
2.
Steven Oliver
Duns, Borders, Scotland |
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Thank you to Steven Oliver who wrote: |
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Boswall District
"My grandparents lived at Boswall Parkway from 1941 until 1998 and it was
here that my dad and aunt my were brought up. " |
Bomb
"I noticed John Ross’s
comment on the house that was bombed. This is the
block of houses at 21-27 Crewe Place ('Gumley' houses), which have a
flat roof instead of a pitched one.
The houses were hit by a
500lb bomb, dropped by a German bomber returning from an aborted
raid on Rosyth on the morning of 29th September 1940.
Three people were killed,
two children living in no.27, and a man living in the flat above
(no.25)
Miss Pell who was one of
the original tenants of the 'Gumleys' dated these houses as going up in
1933. I’m not sure if she is still alive.
I can remember both my dad
and grandad telling me about the bombing. It was mentioned in
the book, 'Stranger on the Shore', a few years ago." |
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Houses Rebuilt
"Donald Grant (a regular
contributor to your site) informs me that the flats were rebuilt
from the ground up which is why they look different to the others in
the scheme. He had a school friend (John Brady) who lived nearby.
I was speaking to my dad
this morning and he told me that one of my grandparents’
neighbours, a Jimmy Robb of 7 Pilton Park, was an ARP during the war
and dealt with the aftermath of the Crewe Place bombing.
Dad told me that Jimmy
recalled seeing the two children who were killed in the bombing laid
out on the back lawn of the bombed house, without a scratch on
them.
The house itself had the
windows and roof blown out by the bomb. The reason for it getting
the flat roof when it was repaired would have been due to wartime
restrictions on building materials, making restoring the original
roof and bay windows uneconomic." |
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Steven Oliver,
Duns, Borders, Scotland: January
16, 2007 |
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Recollections
3.
Kathleen Wheeler (nee
Christie)
Crossville, Tennessee, USA |
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Thank you to Kathleen
Wheeler who wrote:
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The Bomb
"Regarding Betty Fraser's letter (above):
I lived in Crewe Place, Pilton, near Royston during the war years and our
home was one of those flattened by the bomb.
The house across the street took a direct hit
and two children were killed. All the houses around it
were either flattened or severely damaged.
The two children (a boy and a girl) were my
playmates when we were young. Their names escape me right now.
I'm loving all the letters from people who
remember the area where I was raised. They bring back many
memories."
Kathleen Wheeler (nee Christie), Crossville, Tennessee,
USA: May 5, 2007 |
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Do you remember Kathleen Christie?
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Kathleen would like to hear from anybody who remembers her. If you would like to contact her,
please e-mail me and I'll pass on your message to her.
Thank you.
- Peter Stubbs: May 12, 2007
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Recollections
4.
Kathleen Wheeler (nee
Christie)
Crossville, Tennessee, USA |
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Thanks, again, to Kathleen
Wheeler for sending the memories below.
Kathleen wrote:
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The Bomb
"I now remember the names of the two children
who were killed - Ronald and Morag MacArthur. I don't recall their mother
being killed in this bombing.
I remember my father telling me that the
German plane which dropped the bomb was being "escorted" to the Firth of
Forth by two RAF planes which wanted to down him over water instead of on
houses. Unfortunately, the German pilot realized what was going to
happen to him so he just dropped his load wherever.
Everyone had to get out of their houses and I
remember seeing the flames coming from the MacArthur house. I'm not sure
of this. Usually when the sirens went off, we went to the shelters,
but that night we were home, so I'm thinking maybe they didn't go off.
There were four families lived in each
building and I believe four of the houses were demolished. The MacArthur
house took the direct hit. We had to live with my grandparents on
Grindlay Street (opposite the Usher Hall) until the house was rebuilt.
All this has really jogged my memory about a
lot of things I thought I had forgotten.
Kathleen Wheeler (nee Christie), Crossville, Tennessee,
USA: May 15, 2007 |
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Recollections
5.
Patricia Plant (nee
Shaw)
Morayshire, Scotland |
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Thank you to
Patricia nee Shaw, aged 88, who wrote:
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The Bomb
"My mother and I were on our way to visit
Peggy McArthur, the mother of the two children who died at 27 Crewe Place.
We heard the bomb go off and ran into a shelter.
When we got the 'all clear'
and came out, we heard that No 27 had a
direct hit and that Peggy had
been taken to the school then our house. She was in shock and kept
asking for the children. As she was in shock, we
did not tell her straight away.
After the funeral she moved with her husband
to his home area in Elgin. She was
pregnant at the time and went back to live in the house
at Pilton when it was rebuilt. She had a little boy who would
be 68 now.
I joined up with the WRAC
then moved to England. My mother died in
1943, and I moved to Australia for 30 years
I
lost touch with Peggy. I often wonder what happened
to her son."
***
Patricia Plant (nee Shaw), Morayshire, Scotland: October 14, 2009
including some details from Rosalind Gordon, Oban, Argyll & Bute, October 15, 2009
***
Update: See
'Recollections 9' below. |
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Question
Do you
know what happened to Peggy McArthur's son? If so, can you
please email me, then I'll pass on the news to Patricia. Thank you.
Peter Stubbs: October 20, 2009
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Recollections
6.
Harry MacAnespie
Milngavie, Glasgow, Scotland |
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Thank you
to Harry MacAnespie, Milngavie, Glasgow, Scotland for sending me a message
about the bomb that fell on the MacArthur's house at Pilton.
Harry (like
Patricia, in Recollections 4 above) wonders what happened to George
MacArthur, a survivor of the Pilton Bomb.
Harry
wrote: |
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Pilton Bomb
"My first school was Wardie Primary. I
attended from 1935 to 1940. One of my classmates was a George MacArthur.
My family were at home in Crewe Terrace when
the bomb landed on his house in Crewe Place.
Rumour went around that George had been killed.
Shortly after this episode my family moved to
the Glasgow area. It was only, many years later, that I came across a book
in a public library entitled "Civilian War Dead, 1939 - 45", and noted
that two children named MacArthur, Ronald Egbert aged 7 years and Morag
aged 5 years, had been killed by the bomb, but there
was no mention of George who would have then
been aged around 9 years.
Up till then I had not known that George had a
brother and sister. I have not been able to discover
anything more about the family.
So the question remains, what happened to
George? He is in my class photograph,
taken in 1936 at Wardie
Primary School."
Harry MacAnespie, Milngavie, Glasgow,
Scotland: January 19, 2010 |
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Question
Do you
know what happened to George MacArthur? If so, can you
please email me, then I'll pass on the news to Harry. Thank you.
Peter Stubbs: January 23, 2010
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Recollections
7.
Bob Sinclair
Queensland, Australia |
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Thank you
to Bob Sinclair who wrote:
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Bruce Peebles
"The bomb that fell on the house on Crewe
Place was probably aimed at Bruce Peebles'
factory, which was defended by balloons.
We saw the searchlights that night,
one of which I believe was at Crewe Toll.
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Bomb Targets
The intended targets in the bombing also
tended to be:
-
shipping in the Forth
-
The Forth
Bridge
-
Rosyth Dockyard
-
Bertram's
Engineering Works
-
Bruce Peebles'
Factory
and we did wonder if they were also after the
whisky bonds at the docks. Surely, no!"
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Bob Sinclair, Queensland, Australia:
April 5, 2010 |
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Recollections
8.
Lily Burke
(nee Lilias O'Connell Cavanagh)
Foulden, Thetford, Norfolk, England
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Thank you
to Lily Burke who wrote:
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Pilton Bomb
"I vividly remember the
Crewe Place bomb on that Sunday night. As usual, I had my Sunday
night bath. My dad was home from the Merchant Navy and my aunt and
uncle were there.
Dad was just about to slice
a pie for supper when this almighty explosion caused all the windows and
doors to rattle.
My uncle grabbed me off the
chair, tucked me under his arm and must have taken four or five steps down
the stairs to the shelter. There was no siren."
Lily Burke
(nee Lilias O'Connell Cavanagh), Foulden, Thetford, Norfolk, England:
January 2011
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Recollections
9.
Tom McEwan
Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland |
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Thank you
to Tom McEwan for telling me more about the casualties in the Pilton bomb,
and for responding to the questions about;
- Peggy McArthur's surviving sibling
('Recollections 5' above).
- George McArthur in ('Recollections 5' above).
Tom wrote:
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Casualties
"Ronald and Morag McArthur were,
at the time, the only children of Alexander and
Margaret McArthur. They were not related
to George McArthur (mentioned in '6 above').
Ronald was killed in the house at 27 Crewe
Place. Morag died in the ambulance,
at Crewe Road, on the way to the hospital.
Because she was taken by
ambulance, she would not have been 'laid out in
the garden'.
The death certificates backs this up.
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Evening News
Supplement
See also Edinburgh Evening News
Supplement
1
for Wednesday May 4,
2005. The article here was written by Ronald and
Morag's only sibling 2
born 1941.
This Evening News
article corrects some earlier errors in previous publications,
including those published
at the time which got ages wrong and got
Morag's name wrong.
1. There is an error in this
Supplement. No 27 was in fact downstairs.
2. In 'Recollections 5'
above, Patricia (nee Shaw) writes that she often
wonders what happened
to Peggy McArthur's surviving son.
However, Tom McEwan
tells me that the surviving 'son' was in fact a daughter,
Sandra,
and that she is now his wife.
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1944
"The house,
when rebuilt, was used by wardens until 1944
when Mr and Mrs McArthur and their daughter Sandra moved back in. (At the
time Mr McArthur was still serving with RAF in India.)
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Tom McEwan, Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland: February 27, 2011 |
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