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~ From the Atlantic to the Ultima Thule.

The tolling of the bells in 1901 upon the death of Queen Victoria measured a sharp contrast between those who were glad to put the old days behind them in welcoming the new Century and those who saw in its inevitable progress the lamentable erosion of social standards that are now all but inconceivable. ‘The best of times and the worst of times’ is a phrase that might do justice to that period just beyond living memory, we of this age record with an abundance of nostalgia. It was yet undoubtedly a time of great upheavals for its strife and unemployment despite the throng of maritime traffic plying the Thames. ‘Back to the land’ initiatives were widely encouraged to hasten the migration and dispersal of the many now redundant folk who had swarmed to the cities when times were better. Boar War veterans amongst many other people had made their homes in the now rundown port towns like Charlton and Woolwich and remained behind. Events unfolding in old Imperial Russia as the first decade of the Twentieth Century passed into the next, began somewhat to overshadow the crushing despair that brought strikes to the Railways and Dockyards of England.

In all, ten thousand Troops were to be stationed at Hyde Park, Regents Park and Battersea with heavy reinforcements at Woolwich, the new ruling elite were looking decidedly twitchy. In 1912 the Woolwich tunnel was opened, to the greater detriment of the local Watermen.

Local affairs mattered more than events happening in some distant and largely unheard of part of Eastern Europe, that an Archduke was to fall to the assassins bullet in Sarajevo hardly seemed to matter at all, to most. The Headline run by the Daily Mirror just three weeks prior to the commencement of the European hostilities concerned itself with a maritime disaster on the Thames in London. One of the local Watermen, George Kennaird was cited for his enthusiastic foresight in rowing furiously down water to warn and stop the ferry ‘Golden Eagle’ that was thrashing its way up towards a certain collision with the steamer ‘Oriole,’ which was sinking fast and came to rest on its side after impacting with the much more substantial Cunard liner ‘Carpathian’ which itself had received an obvious gash in its bow and was listing from water taken on because of the impact. The ‘Nancy,’ a small but prided local Waterman’s Wherry was quick to attend the scene, safely landing a party of sixteen passengers from the ‘Oriole’ who were wet and no doubt disgruntled. They were comforted and sheltered by the local people with blankets and tea until rescued by officialdom.

With the outbreak of war some of the lethargy imposed by unemployment at the docks lifted as such places now brimmed with vessels diverted from France and Belgium. Employment soared, seeing a rise from four to eight thousand Dockers now taken on to cope with the additional traffic. The ‘Dreadnought’42 Shipyards which had been started by a redundant Lighterman at the turn of the Century were heavy with the sounds of riveting, and Salormen were finding it possible to earn a years pay in a fortnight sailing the channel with pitch, coal and armaments for the Front whilst young boys would enter such voluntary Regiments as the ‘Footballing Enthusiasts Battalion.’

At the outset of the Great War, the Isle of Thanet was equipt with a small and precarious landing strip for aircraft at Westgate, above the cliffs at the foot of the sea where a seaplane had been based at the end of the promenade. The landing grounds atop the cliff soon became the scene of several accidents, with at least one plane seen to fail to stop before the end of the cliffs and tumble into the sea, which for the fortunate pilot had been on its inward tide. In the winter of 1915/16 these early aircraft first began to use the open farmlands at Manston as their site for emergency landings. Thus was soon established the Admiralty Aerodrome at Manston. It was not long after this that the training school, set up originally to instruct the pilot in the use of the new ‘Handley’ Bombers was established, and so by the close of 1916 their were already two distinct units stationed at Manston, the Operational War Flight Command and the Handley~Page Training School.

Its location on the Kent coast gave Manston some advantage over the other previously established Airdromes and regular additions in men and machinery were soon acquired, particularly, in these early days, from Detling. By 1917 the Royal Flying Corps. were well established and taking an active part in the defense of England. At a time when Zeppelin raids were bringing the war directly to the home civilian population, German daylight bombing raids by the ‘Gotha’ Bomber, a twin engined by-plane, would have been considerably more destructive without the R.F.C.’s presence and Manston’s decisive involvement.

The German air raids had lasted for thirteen weeks, the last being on 22nd august 1917. On this occasion, of the 15 bombers that set out for England five did not even reach the Kent coast, and the ‘spirited’ intervention from Manston prevented those remaining from getting very far inland at all, three of them being destroyed outright with the remaining seven sent scurrying back to Germany with dead and wounded on board. Shortly after and as a consequence the Cabinet recommended the creation of a separate Air Ministry. The RAF thereafter being officially formed on 1st of April 1918 43.

Along with many hundreds of men who took part in these pioneering days, the sons of Edward Holbourn and Laura (nee) Jarman, namely Geoffrey and Douglas Holbourn, Solomon’s cousins played their part in these adventures, regrettably I have no further record of any of their deeds, nonetheless the times through which they lived saw Ramsgate gaining the regrettable distinction of becoming the most heavily bombed place in England.

An item of interest and great curiosity however, relating to the slightly later history of Manston and its personnel, stands out for being part of the long list of inspired rescues off the Thanet coast. A link between the airfield and the Goodwin Sands is revealed in the pages of : ‘The History of R.A.F Manston’ by Flt. Lt. Rocky Stockman RAF, and is told by Wing Commander Bryson who recalled an adventure at sea involving the ‘high speed’ launches stationed at Ramsgate Harbour in 1936 for duty with the no. 48 (gr) Squadron.

He reports : ‘we had two of these launches, equipped with old areo engines by a firm in Cowes ~ they had never run for more than 15 minutes without conking out. One afternoon the ‘Royal Temple Yacht Club’ had a race from Ramsgate. A squall blew up and the yachts ran aground on the treacherous quicksand’s. With trepidation I ordered out the two ‘high speed’ rescue launches, which, miraculously, managed to keep going and rescued the boats’ ~ as if old Culmer White had been watching over them ! RAF Manston continued these maritime traditions with its Air~Sea Rescue helicopters and teams into our contemporary lives, adding a priceless additional element to the Counties emergency services.

My fathers uncle, Frederick William, born the first of two sons in 1896 two years before my grandfather, and also in Gravesend, received a mention from ‘The Kent County Year Book’ 44 for 1934/5 which I have cited below as perhaps the best way to sum up his character and subsequent activities.

Holbourn, Frederick William.: ‘Totally disabled War pensioner; born July 16th 1896 educated at Gravesend Elementary School ; Wed; Jennie Ann ; daughter of Captain R.D. Jefferson, (R.E, of 111 Milton Road, Gravesend); they raised one son who was Jack Holbourn.

Before the war Frederick played football for ‘Perry Street Wednesday’ and ‘Gravesend Wednesday Invicta’, and was Honourable Secretary to the latter 1913/14/15; he joined the army in 1915, served in France and Belgium with the 10th R.W.K. Regiment until he was totally disabled in 1918 with the loss of both legs and a fractured right arm; On his return he became Hon. Secretary to the Returned Prisoners of War FC 1918/19 and formed ‘Gravesend Hotspur FC’ in 1919, and Hon. Sec. 1919/20, when they won several trophies; (‘The Gravesend Hospital Cup’; The Gravesend League Division I, and the ‘Hawley Victory Cup’). The line up consisting of ; (Trainer ; L Gauge), L. Ives, A. Ring, J. Donovan, (Secretary, Frederick Holbourn), (President G. Paterson), E. Pridmore, R. Hubbard, (Captain W. Ives), G. Wiltshire, V. Pressley, F. Waghorn, C. Ridley, H. Stone, and D. Hubbard.~ 1919/20.)

He joined the management committee of the Borough league in 1919/20; and also became Vice~Chairman of ‘Gravesend Rovers FC.’ for 1921/23, he also served on the Management Committee Services Rendered Club and Discharged Soldiers and Sailors Association 1918/21, and Sports Sec. From 1921~32 he served on the Sports, Finance and Ways and Means Committee’s ; British Legion Relief Fund Committee from 1921~29; The United Services Fund rep. 1925~32 ; Vice Chairman of British Legion 1926, Chairman. British Legion Relief Fund 1924~26, Hon. Sec. 1926/7 ; Vice Chrmn. 1922/3 ; member of the Poppy Day Committee 1924/32 ; and Chrmn. 1924~26 Chrmn. St. Dunstan's Flag Day, 1924/5.

He was also the Hon. Secretary to the Benevolent Advisory Committee, 1925~28 ; Voluntary War Pensions worker attached to Medway Boroughs Pensions Committee 1925~33 ; a member of Medway Boroughs Pensions Committee, 1929/30 ; Chairman, of the British Legion employment Committtee ; and secretary to the British Legion War Orphans; Branch Assistant Sec., 1920~23 and 1931; Branch Treasurer 1931/32; British Legion and United Services Fund Benevolent Committtee, and Secretary to the British Legion Turf Cricket Club 1928/29; He went on to assist in the founding of the Tuberculosis Aftercare Committee; and became Hon. Sec. British Legion, groups 10 and 9 ; Honorary Secretary for the Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen’s Families Association for Gravesend ; and delegate to Kent Conferences of British Legion.’

What time he had for Hobbies including; gardening; sports; football, cricket and billiards, he enjoyed from his home address of 48 Portland Avenue, Gravesend.

Several other close cousins remained in Thanet, and Dispite the virtual collapse of boatbuilding in those towns, had developed alternative small businesses of their own and who knows, just perhaps are still distantly remembered by some of the towns older inhabitants.

Amongst these we find the confectioner named Jessie : at 155 High St., Ramsgate; ~ an occupation unknown in the Broadstairs of the 1840’s, and so perhaps largely catering for the ever growing popularity of the seaside holiday maker. Curiously, the family folklaw of the current day descendants of one of her brother in laws cites her as having at one time been a Mayoress of Ramsgate, but I have myself not been able to confirm this. Ethel Mary, one of her sisters followed another of the family traditions of tailoring, and set up at no 50 Vale Road, as a Dressmaker (or costumier as recorded in the 1937 edition of the ‘Kellys’ Directory for Kent.) a brother, Stephen born in 1873 was to become a Chemist, and Henry born in 1865 was to follow in the footsteps of the Shipwrights before him by becoming a Carpenter.

Their father also Stephen was a Carpenter of Christ Church, Ramsgate where he married to a miss Ann Adams, herself a Dress and Mantle Maker. In 1907 they were living at 34 Vale Road. Stephen’s ancestry is traced back to the afore mentioned Husbandsman, Thomas of Herne, (b.1719). Looking at Kelly’s for the year 1907 I also found revealed another close cousin, Edward Holbourn born in 1842 in Dover he came to live in Broadstairs at no.7 Albion Street, besides operating a Tobacconists he appears to have been a Carpenter and Builder. His mother, strangely was an Emma Holbourn, the sister of Stephen, father in law of Anne Adams. Emma married a Thomas Sayer, they were blessed with nine grandchildren, Sydney William Holbourn being the fifth and born in 1877. I have not pried too far in looking for the reason these families were not named Sayer. As the group have elected to join the Holbourn tribe it is only fitting to recall the events that unfolded during the great war that surely shook the family, and am indebted to the research undertaken by Arthur Percival and all those who assisted him in his work for revealing something of the truth of what happened on that Sunday morning long ago in April 1916, when Sidney Holbourn went to work for the last time. Along with a great many of his friends and colleagues he may be found buried in the Commemorative Grave at Faversham that was erected to honour those victims of the tragic munitions factory explosion in that town in 1916.

The town of Faversham is well known in Kent as a harbour and market community between Sittingbourne and the Isle of Thanet, and is also at the centre of the Counties Brewing Industry, home, as it is to ‘Shepherd Neame’, a notable brewery, rescued from the charge of the last heirs of the Shepherd family, by Percy Beal Neame in the 1840’s.

The years during the First World War saw an uncertain time for the Neame brewery. In the first instance, was the scarcity of labour from 1915 which soon became evident, as a number of employees turned to offers of higher wages elsewhere, including the local ammunitions factory’s. If not having been called up, the remaining local labour force had volunteered for active duty on the Front, either in the Army or the Navy, so that the local women were encouraged to find work. Shepherd Neame benefited from a continuance, if not an increase in trade from the Brewer’s irrepressible product, and in this way, against the reduction found in the available workforce, experienced such an accelerated increase in sales as could only be described as a ‘war bonus’ especially with the added sales to troops stationed in the neighborhood. Such were the results of the brewery’s turnover during the early years of the great war that dispite shortages in labour they were able to invest in substantial machinery including a new ‘mash tun’ to replace the existing but old wooden equipment, being ‘quite worn out’ including grinding machinery, that had been in use since 1896. With a couple of heavy lorries procured, the company still had a £12,000/~ profit to carry forward. Against the prevailing circumstance of the war, not only were alcohol duties increased in 1916, but the anti~drink section of the Liberal party made the most of any opportunity to limit drinking.

The story of the town’s munitions industry is less well known, although it too clearly saw a boom in trade were also affected adversely by the events of the war. Like the Brewery, Munitions production was not new to Faversham, it was sometime around 1753 that the first of Faversham’s gunpowder factories was originally established, leading over subsequent years to a growth in development, that by 1786 saw in total three such factories in and around Faversham.

The first real problem arose shortly after the introduction of a new material, with the discovery in Germany in 1846 of ‘Guncotton’, the first ‘high explosive’ which was distinct from the more usual forms of propellant such as gunpowder, in terms of its superior destructive effect. Under an agreement with the innovator, a Professor of chemistry at Basle, Dr. Christian Schonbein the first ‘Guncotton’ plant in the world opened at the Faversham Marsh Works, later that year at one of the town’s three ‘Powder Factories’.

On the 14th of July 1847 a disastrous explosion killed 18 members of the staff and injured others. The detonation was heard as far away as Maidstone and only 10 of the dead could be identified, with the remainder ‘literally blown to atoms’ resulting in a termination of production until 1873 when, with a better understanding of the attendant risks the ‘Cotton Powder Company Limited’ (CPC) built a new plant on the marshes along the Swale. With only one accident of a less serious nature in 1899,45 the Cotton Powder Plant continued to prosper and by 1915 had expanded to cover a five hundred acre site including in its range of products along with ‘Guncotton’, ‘Cordite’, ‘Gelignite’, ‘Nitro-glycerine’, detonators, ‘Dynamite’ and distress rockets. The plant offered well paid work to men as far afield as Herne Bay and Margate and some confusion arose as to its effect on the general war effort in providing an exemption to its workers from military service. Faversham had become for a short period one of the centres of the nations munitions industry. Despite this their seems to have continued along side the modern facilities incorporated at the plant many older more traditional apparatus. The CPC had it own electrical generators, mechanical coal feeders and so on but the cargoes would arrive and depart by sailing barge and horse drawn wagons.

To lessen the expense of production for the war effort a cheap but highly volatile chemical ‘amatol’ was introduced into the process of bomb and shell manufacture, this was at the Explosives Loading Company (ELC) site that had opened in 1912 next to the Cotton plant, which was the larger of the two operations. Although the security arrangements were met by an 128 man military guard and supplemented with a further 24 civilian patrolmen for the two factories the fire fighting facilities were to prove inadequate. The events of 1847 and ‘99 may have prompted the CPC to have provided it’s own part time Fire Brigade and have installed numerous hydrants and hoses along with a perpetually running steam pump to raise additional water when required.

The E.L.C. workforce were considerably less well protected with only a four man manual pump and a limited number of chemical fire extinguishers. Ominously, only day’s prior to the explosion, the H.M. Chief Inspector of Explosives had noted the omission of hydrants and other precautions against fire. The fact that the buildings at the plant themselves were not suitable, being constructed from ‘matchboard’ in addition to the excesses of the demands of the war were compelling the plant to store vast quantities of TNT and ammonium nitrate, often in dangerous locations. With the plant working overtime, normal routines were not being followed and these technicalities placed the company in breach of its license agreement. On the night before the disaster two of the patrolmen reported that a small fire had started between the boiler house and the ELC building numbered 883, but thought they had managed to put out. In the report made they went on to state that sparks were noticed, which they considered to have come from the adjacent boiler~house, and which in all probability cause the fire they found.

Nevertheless the very weather itself may have contributed to the origins of the fire that followed on the morning of Sunday 2nd of April, as the previous month had been typically wet but had ended with a short dry spell so that by that Sunday the weather was described as ‘glorious’, perfect conditions for heat generated combustion to occur. ‘By far the most probable explanation of the fire’ the following day was said to be the same problem of sparking from the boiler~house. In the report that was classified as secret at the time the clerk of works, Mr. Underwood is said to have noted a quantity of empty TNT bags stacked against the wooden wall of Building 883, and that these had in fact caught alight, and were burning from underneath. It was he that then sounded the alarm calling out the works Fire Brigade with its manual pump. Normal working conditions had ceased at the time of the first explosion, and many of the workers were engaged in rendering assistance as a consequence of the fire, although a large number of the men were standing by perhaps in accordance with standard fire safety regulations, unaware and in disregard to the potential danger to be reported as ‘spectators’.

The ELC apparatus being far from adequate help was provided by the CPC fire fighting unit, Steve Epps, a new recruit, dissatisfied with his pay from the brewery, having been employed as a Charge Hand and therefore also one of the fire brigade at CPC immediately abandoned his lunch and responded to the call for assistance but before he and the other fire-fighters could reach the fire ‘the stuff inside the shed was already alight’, the only thing to be done was to attempt to move the ‘tons and tons of TNT’ that Epps recalled had been stored in 56lb boxes stacked around the building.

Something of an organised panic ensued in getting the explosives away from the fire so that the 19 members of the CPC fire brigade might attempt to control the fire but the serious lack of any fixed hydrants compelled the need to establish a chain of men passing the water from a nearby dike in buckets to the blaze. Some 200 volunteers eventually mustered to take part in attempting to stall the spread of the inferno, but still the fire was getting out of hand. All three of Faversham’s Fire Brigades, ‘The Kent’ (then maintained by the Kent Fire Office), ‘The Volunteer’, and ‘The Norwich Union’ ~ each having an engine that would have had to have been harnessed to a number of horses, or perhaps a lorry had also to be called to the factory. Anticipating the fact that it would be some time, and not be easy for the town fire engines to cover the three miles of narrow uneven and rutted, winding, indirect country lanes the CPC brigade were able to put together about 4~500 yards of hastily found hose, which proved enough to get a connection to the nearest fire hydrant at the Cotton plant, and finally a jets prey from a single nozzle was able to be directed toward the blaze. By this time the fire had spread all around the building and had melted the outermost boxes of TNT causing sufficient heat within to generate a spontaneous combustion.

It is possible to deduce from the investigation into a similar explosion that had then recently happened, (in 1906 at Witten in Westphalia) from a fire that had fused the same two chemicals, and it had been concluded that the burning ammonium nitrate produced a build up of oxygen which then so fed the flames as to result in ‘a reaction of unforeseen and exceptional violence’ upon contact with the TNT, since at ELC their were an 150 tons of ammonium nitrate and 15 tons of TNT in shed 833 when the fire started. Just 70 minutes after the fire had been reported by Underwood, with such appalling resources at hand to deal with the fire, to the moment that the hosed water had been applied, despite every effort, the inferno erupted, it was recorded by Steve Epps that : “We’d just got the water on it ~ and up she went”. Building no 883 exploded and took with it another two ‘process houses’, both of which exploded together being about 120 yards away. Two further explosions occurred both within about 20 minutes of one another so that damage done by these explosions was ‘severe and extensive’. In all five buildings had gone up and no trace of any of them was to be seen, but for a crater, left by the first explosion being 10 to 15 feet deep and with a diameter of 150ft. ‘Within a 225 yard radius of this explosion every building of conventional light construction was destroyed, including six belonging to the CPC, though in one pre~war shell filling building within the “fatal ring” the reinforced concrete partitions were not even cracked.’46

 It’s situation, in the middle of the open marshes of North Kent, and adjacent to the Thames coastline being relatively remote and isolated is perhaps why it was chosen as the site for a munitions factory, and also explains why, on that occasion, when things went horribly wrong on 2nd of April 1916, with the great explosion that occurred at about noon, it was heard as far away as Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Southend, where domestic windows were blown out, and two large plate glass shop windows shattered way across the Thames estuary. Reports of windows and doors rattling in homes at Norwich are well documented as having occurred at the time of the explosion at Faversham, but most clearly described by the Tooke family of Beccles, who were sitting down to lunch in the parlour which was separated from Mr. R. K. Tooke’s retail area by a large glass partition behind the shop in the New Market area of town when ‘the whole place was shaken by a great explosion’ causing the partition to tremble and make a good deal of noise. The flat terrain of Essex, like North Kent carried the vibrations of the catastrophe, so violent as it was, that the Cross on the Altar of St Peter’s Church at Shoebury, Essex was found to have fallen onto the floor. The impact of this sudden eruption, at Faversham was like an earthquake, it was Sunday lunchtime and most people would have been sitting down to dinner, when the noise was felt and would not have ran out of their houses, as reported, without fearing something very serious indeed had happened.

Over thirty individuals who were involved in the fire~fighting and subsequent rescues were to eventually receive awards, including Steve Epps. Of the powder companies firemen, seven of their number were too lose their lives through their gallant conduct during the execution of their duty. In view of the fact that the fire may not have resulted in such a dreadful explosion had not the two chemicals, relatively safe and inert whilst separate, been both contained in the same building the management, who were aquitted, got of lightly. The Ministry report, which as a result of the war was secret and classified although concerned about the appalling number of oversights and shortcomings revealed as a result of the explosion stopped short of actually accusing anyone for misjudgement or negligence. “They could not fail to be aware that wartime conditions were difficult and that ‘when the maximum output of every factory is essential, . . it is very difficult to carry on work in the same careful and methodical manner as in normal times.’” Between the short period separating the first two explosions, a ‘tremendous volume of . . flames and smoke’ could be seen from just beyond the factory gates, being carried away from the works some half mile from the blazing building.

In fact one of the CPC maintenance staff had been alerted to the presence of a smouldering fire at about nine in the morning and from the fitting shop could see smoke rising at the end of a building. This was not considered dangerous and was put out, or so it was thought, with pails of water, but at about 10.30 to eleven O’Clock it suddenly flared up again, catching the side of the store. It was not until shortly after noon that the fire hose had been established by the firemen, just five or ten minutes before the explosion. A large crowd that had gathered about the gates were compelled to flee in terror at the ‘tremendous burst of flames’ of the second explosion, which was followed by a deafening report. Amidst this devastation the injured attempted to escape. Men had been blown into dikes and were suffering from shock, to be found soaking wet and shivering. Whilst some were able to walk many had to be helped along or carried out on trolleys, many had had their clothes burnt from them, but these were the lucky ones. Whilst the dead remained still on the ground some of the victims had been completely disintegrated, and no trace of at least one of the National Guard that had been acting sentry was ever found. Comparatively minor explosions haphazardly continued throughout the afternoon.

What then constituted Faversham’s Emergency Services coped admirably against the pressures of an unprecedented situation, with a surplus of beds made hastily available. Not only was the small town hospital made ready to receive the injured, but also the workhouse infirmary, the Salvation Army Hall and two local Mansions that had been acting as war time Military Hospitals offered assistance. By all the means available, and as soon as it was possible the injured were dispatched to wherever a place could be found to treat them. ‘The journey back along that “narrow bumpy road” was a ‘nightmare’ with an ‘avalanche’ of traffic coming in the opposite direction’, the hazard only increasing at the then built up area coming into the town’s busy thoroughfare, which has always accommodated traffic passing along the main route from London and Chatham to the coast.

The deceased were laid out as best as could be arranged, so that the following morning they could be seen on wattle gates under the cycle shed and at the site of the disused tile works then belonging to the CPC. The First World War was raging across Europe and censorship was commonplace in the interest of National Security and so the matter was not reported in full, and then only the briefest of acknowledgements was issued on the following Wednesday, 5th of April when the Ministry of Munitions without reference to the precise location recorded that “during the weekend a serious fire broke out in a powder factory in Kent which led to a series of explosions at the works.”

It was emphasised that this had been the result of an accident and not from any act of aggression from abroad yet the scale of the disaster was indicated in the estimate of casualties, reported initially in the Times at some two hundred injured. The report was amended two day’s later when the Paper explained that some of the victims were buried ‘in one large grave’, but it was to be a further three weeks, following a Parliamentary question that the real situation was to be revealed with some 172 casualties and whereas it had been formally thought that their had been only a few fatalities, in fact a further 108 workers, including five men from the military guard had died as a result of the accidental explosion. Some estimates place the number as high as 120. No report of the inquest was ever to be published but the jury had little option in returning a verdict of ‘accidental death caused by shock and injuries received in an explosion due to an accidental fire, cause unknown.’

Although at least 40 of the deceased were buried elsewhere a mass grave to accommodate 69 coffins was prepared at the Love Lane Crematory. On the afternoon of Thursday the 6th of April. Accompanied by the Mayor, Dr. Alexander and the Corporation with a military guard of Honour the solemn funeral procession began from the market place. The service was attended by about 400 private mourners and was conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who afterwards toured the hospitals visiting the survivors.

A memorial was later added to the mass grave, being dedicated on Thursday 27th of September 1917, at a service attended by all of the male staff of the CPC and ELC and 24 representatives from the woman’s staff, none of whose members were killed during the incident, women not being taken on for the Sunday shift. Inscribed on the face of the 12ft. 6 high granite cross and at it’s base are the words:

The ‘East Kent Gazette’ of Sittingbourne covering the matter on the 29th of April, although recognising the need for some censorship referred to the reply given in Parliament to the question as ‘mystifying and ambiguous’ and called for the fullest precautions to be implemented to ‘prevent another calamity of the kind’ occurring again. Although not the first such disaster of this kind to have happened at Faversham’s historic munitions works, the event of April 1916 is recorded as the worst ever in the history of the U.K. Explosives Industry, and yet the full picture is still somewhat confused, the reason for the fire uncertain, considering the sheer quantity of explosive chemical stored up in the locality, with a report indicating that a further 3000 tons remained in nearby sheds unaffected it is remarkable, and a tribute to those who struggled against the fire that so much of the nations munitions were actually prevented from adding to the catastrophe.

The secretary of state for war, Earl Kitchener had in 1914 written to the management of the CPC, and it is presumed the ELC, instructing the workforce on ‘the importance of the government work upon which they (were) engaged’. “I should like all engaged by your company to know that it is fully recognised that they, in carrying out the great work of supplying munitions of war, are doing their duty for their King and Country, equally with those who have joined the Army for active service in the field.”

 42 : ‘Anchor and Hope’ : Jo Anderson, : 1980.

 43 : ‘The History of RAF Manston.’ : Flt. Lt., Rocky Stockman. RAF.

44 :  The Kent County Year Book for 1934/5

 45 : Arthur Percival makes reference in one of his footnotes to an explosion that occurred at the Marsh Powder Works on 21st Feb. 1879, the cause for which was subsequently explained as the result of an case of temporary insanity. ~ On the 11th of December 1880 another explosion was determined to have been ‘wilfully brought about by some evil disposed person’ HMSO refs: C2298/C2864 respectively.

 46 : ''The Great Explosion at Faversham.’ by Arthur Percival MBE also reprinted from Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. C. (1985). : N.B : The information in the above chapter has been drawn from this source, which is indispensable to any one with an interest in this occurrence and the losses caused by it or the deeds of great gallantry that were not found wanting during the said catastrophe.

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