Once a year usually late Feb/early March I visit the East London Cemetery in Plaistow to tidy the grave where my grandmother is buried and where my mother’s ashes lie (see featured picture). The cemetery is huge (Mahoosive, as my son would say), and I know it’s strange, but when the grave is spick and span again I like to wander around and read inscriptions on some of the tombstones before making the 100 mile journey home.
Thus I was surprised to discover a monument to a Mr George Davies, his wife and 4 children who all died with around 640 others on the River Thames in the accidental sinking of the Princess Alice paddle steamer on 3rd September 1878. Back at home I looked the accident up on Google. Wikipedia states how the collision with the collier ship Bywell Castle caused the greatest loss of life of any British inland waterway accident.
The Princess Alice was full of day trippers on the homeward journey from a day out at Sheerness. The point of collision with the Bywell Castle was where 75 million gallons of London’s raw sewage had just been tipped into the Thames, along with the output from the Beckton Gasworks and oil and petroleum from a Thames fire. The smaller paddle steamer was split into three sections by the force of the collision, and sank within minutes. Passengers were thrown into the fetid water, and were quickly covered in slime and drowned. Many had been unable to swim, and women had been further hampered by the long dresses they had worn. About 150 people were rescued, but many of these died through ingesting the foul waters. After the sinking, changes to the release and treatment of raw sewage were made.
The verdict of an inquest after the event was that the Bywell Castle did not stop and reverse her engines in time, and that the Princess Alice contributed to the collision by not stopping and going astern. There were addenda that the Princess Alice was not properly manned, there were too many people on board, and means of saving lives were insufficient for a vessel of her class.
It seems to have been one of London’s forgotten disasters; I for one had never heard of it and I lived in London for 33 years. I got to thinking of all those happy Londoners on board who had just had a lovely day out and had no idea what terrible fate was to befall them.
Walking around the cemetery certainly makes me grateful for having made it to the age of 62. Near to where Nan is buried is what can only be described as a shrine to a 13 year old girl who died in the 1960s when she fell off her horse. There are also babies’ graves who lived for only one day. I came away with a renewed conviction to make the most of every single day I have left upon this earth.
Geri Lawhon said:
What a horrible way to die, drowning while chocking on sewage. I too have walked around graveyards and realized how lucky I am to make it this far. Thanks for the history lesson.
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Darlene said:
I too like wandering through graveyards and reading the gravestones. Some very sad cases. I had read a book about the history of the river Thames and the disaster was described in it, so I did know about it. So very sad.
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Stevie Turner said:
Thanks for commenting, Darlene. Ah, so it hasn’t been completely forgotten then!
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Phil Huston said:
What we have is all we have. When I stop and sense my own mortality, as I came face to face with 11 years ago, a sort of panic sets in to accomplish more, be more…and then stop to reflect on all that has been longer than a day, or thirteen years, or yesterday…
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Stevie Turner said:
I too faced my own mortality 15 years ago. It’s a sobering moment. Twenty somethings just don’t realise, do they?
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Phil Huston said:
No, nor do 13 year olds who think themselves invincible. All you need to do is go through the ER doors flat on your back one time to know it’s a gift, not a right.
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Stevie Turner said:
Absolutely. Life is very short in the grand scheme of things.
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Jennie said:
Sad and interesting. I have walked through the old cemetery in our small New England town to discover much of the same surprises. One family was entirely killed by Throat Distemper.
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Stevie Turner said:
It’s interesting isn’t it, to walk through cemeteries? I wonder if throat distemper is another name for diphtheria?
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Jennie said:
I think it is. My doctor was pretty sure, too. That was quite a thing to come across. Our headstones are made of slate, not stone, so the inscription and carving remains mostly intact.
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robertawrites235681907 said:
So sad, Stevie. History is full of forgotten incidents like this, but often they do help change the future. Just like the great fire of London and the sinking of the Titanic. I also like looking at graves although it makes me feel very sad.
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Stevie Turner said:
Sad for the people whose lives could have been saved.
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