Heart of the West End
A bomb exploded near Tottenham Court Road, roughly 200 yards north of the tube station and the east end of Oxford Street, during the third week of the night blitz on London on 24th September 1940. A gas main caught fire, and it left a crater in the road. At least one car was obliterated. The Central London YMCA was devastated on the east side of the street; seven persons were killed and two more were also fatally hurt. Three more people passed away in the nearby street.
Looking south on Tottenham Court Road, the extent of the bomb damage can be clearly seen. The water jet from the firemen's hose can be seen coming from the left side of this picture. The civil defence personnel present are seen standing in small groups and the rescue effort is obviously over. Just above the water jet from the hose, on the left side of this picture, you can see buildings in the distance; this is the site of the modern Centrepoint tower block. Just in front of the buildings are a crowd of onlookers, possibly including people who worked in the shops now destroyed,
Things became worse across the street when an entire row of stores with flats above collapsed and a few fires erupted.
Fortunately, the most of buildings were empty, however at 8 Tottenham Court Road, seven people perished when the staff of an amusement arcade were caught in the falling structure. Four further fatalities occurred right next door at the Blue Posts Public House.
Another individual was fatally hurt at Hanway Street, behind these buildings.
The rubble to the right was the amusement arcade; a wrecked vehicle is in the middle of the street. To the left of the building was the junction with Hanway Street and the building visible in the background is where one person was fatally injured.
Twenty-eight people were killed or mortally injured, including two additional victims who were killed in the street on the opposite side of the intersection of Hanway Street where two Cypriot nationals were also killed at the Lyons Corner House.
The left side of the Blue Posts is more clearly visible here, as is the smoking rubble to the right (numbers 8-12 Tottenham Court Road) showing why the firemen were still dampening down in the earlier pictures. The corner of the YMCA building is just visible in the top right.
Logbook extract of the Holborn Rescue Party who attended incident
Casualty list
Hanway Street
- NICHOLLS, NELLIE FLORENCE, age 42, OF 12A HANWAY STREET. WIFE OF J. NICHOLLS. DIED AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE HOSPITAL. Nellie Nicholls died at University College Hospital, at the north end of Tottenham Court Road, two days later.
Tottenham Court Road 6, Blue Posts PH
- BAKER, JOHN ALFRED, age 25, OF 77 ARLINGTON ROAD. SON OF DAVID AND AMELIA BAKER, OF 13 CORPORATION BUILDINGS, FARRINGDON ROAD, E.C.1. DIED AT 6 TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD. Arlington Road is in Camden Town, parallel to the High Street. Number 77 still stands.
- COGAN, DORIS MAY, age 24, OF 40 LINDROP STREET, FULHAM. DAUGHTER OF GEORGE PLUMLEY, OF 2 RAVENSWOOD AVENUE, BROMLEY, KENT; WIFE OF CHARLES RICHARD COGAN. DIED AT 6 TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD. Married Fulham q2 1938. Lindrop Road is just south of Chelsea Harbour, number 40 still stands.
- HAYES, THOMAS, age 61, OF 117 NEWINGTON BUTTS, LAMBETH. HUSBAND OF ELIZABETH HAYES. DIED AT 6 TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD. His home address has long been demolished.
- TRITTON, WILLIAM, age 49, HUSBAND OF ALICE TRITTON, OF 26 SUTTON LANE, CHISWICK, MIDDLESEX. DIED AT 6 TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD. Suttons Lane North still exists.
Tottenham Court Road 8
- BOLAND, RONALD RICHARD, age 14, SON OF ALFRED AND CONSTANCE BOLAND, OF 95 ALBERT STREET. DIED AT 8 TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD. Albert Street is in Camden, close to the home of John Alfred Baker who died at the Blue Posts PH next door. Ronald’s older brother, Alfred, died in the battle of Arnhem in 1944, aged 20. He was serving with 7 Platoon, S Company, 1st Parachute Battalion. In Oosterbeek on the western edge of Arnhem he was shot by a sniper and buried in the garden of a house on Utrechtsweg; his body was later re-interred in the CWGC Cemetery: http://www.warcemeteries.nl/Boland.html
- MOSS, ARTHUR, age 33, OF 52 BROADWICK STREET. DIED AT 8 TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD. 52 Broadwick Street still standing.
- SEILER, JOSEPH SAUL SOLLY, age 38, OF 8 TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD. SON OF MARCUS AND BERTHA SEILER, OF 100 OSBALDESTON ROAD, STAMFORD HILL; HUSBAND OF HELEN SEILER. DIED AT 8 TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD.
- SEILER, HENRY, age 17, OF 8 TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD. SON OF HELEN SEILER, AND OF JOSEPH SAUL SOLLY SEILER. DIED AT 8 TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD.
- SMITH, THOMAS GEORGE, age 18, OF 63 MYDDLETON STREET, ROSEBERY AVENUE, FINSBURY. SON OF MR. AND MRS. A. E. SMITH. DIED AT 8 TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD.
- SUTTON, EDWARD ERNEST, age 26, OF 144 HARRINGTON ROAD. SON OF MRS. C. SUTTON, OF 4 ST. JOHN'S STREET, MARGATE, KENT; HUSBAND OF PEARL SUTTON. DIED AT 8 TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD.
- WOODHOUSE, ROBERT JOHN, age 46, OF 10 ABERDEEN PLACE, ST. MARYLEBONE. SON OF AMY WOODHOUSE. DIED AT 8 TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD.
Great Russell Street YMCA
- ADLESTONE, CYRIL, age 21, F.A.P. MEMBER; OF Y.M.C.A., GREAT RUSSELL STREET. SON OF DAVID AND SARAH ADLESTONE, OF 20 NEWTON PARK VIEW, LEEDS. DIED AT Y.M.C.A., GREAT RUSSELL STREET.
- EDWARDS, HENRY CHARLES LEWIS, age 36, OF Y.M.C.A., GREAT RUSSELL STREET. SON OF ALICE EDWARDS, OF WHITE HOUSE, BOURNE END BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. DIED AT Y.M.C.A., SOUTH TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD.
- FISHER, JOHN BERNARD, age 17, HOME GUARD; OF Y.M.C.A., GREAT RUSSELL STREET. SON OF HERBERT J. AND EMMA C. FISHER, OF BRANDON ROAD, WATTON, NORFOLK. DIED AT Y.M.C.A., GREAT RUSSELL STREET.
- KEOGH, AGUSTIN WILLIAM, age 49, HUSBAND OF ETHEL KEOGH, OF 26 SEKFORDE STREET, CLERKENWELL. DIED AT Y.M.C.A., GREAT RUSSELL STREET.
- RICHARDSON, MARCUS WILLIAM, age 30, OF 42 ERPINGHAM ROAD, PUTNEY. DIED AT Y.M.C.A., GREAT RUSSELL STREET.
- STEWART, PERCY HAMILTON, age 57, OF 44 BAYHAM STREET, W.1. SON OF THOMAS AND SARAH STEWART, OF MARSLAND ROAD, BROOKLANDS, CHESHIRE. DIED AT Y.M.C.A., GREAT RUSSELL STREET.
- TEMPLE, DAVID EDWARD, age 18, HOME GUARD. SON OF ALFRED AND DOROTHY ROSS TEMPLE, OF 76 TYRONE ROAD, THORPE BAY, ESSEX. INJURED 24 SEPTEMBER 1940, AT Y.M.C.A. HEADQUARTERS, TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD; DIED AT MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL.Born September 1922. Entered company service 6 May 1940 at Southend as a clerk in the Accident Department. Was a member of the Home Guard. Evacuated to Aldwych from Southend on 01 July 1940. Stayed in the London Central YMCA at Tottenham Court Road London then moved to basement shelter at Aldwych with Mr W J Robinson, Mr F C Schilling and Mr J Ellis Pilgrim. Decided on 24 September 1940 to sleep at the YMCA was injured in air raid hit on the building and died in Middlesex Hospital.
- WILLS, NORMAN LEONARD, age 20, OF Y.M.C.A., GREAT RUSSELL STREET, HOLBORN. SON OF ALFRED CHRISTOPHER LEONARD AND ALICE EMILY ISABELLA WILLS, OF 16 EAST PARK PARADE, NORTHAMPTON. INJURED 24 SEPTEMBER 1940, AT Y.M.C.A., GREAT RUSSELL STREET; DIED AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE HOSPITAL.
- WILSON, COLIN CAMPBELL, age 5, OF 4 VASSALL ROAD, STOCKWELL. SON OF COLIN CAMPBELL WILSON AND ISABELLA WILSON, OF 6 BUTTERMERE STREET, GRANGETOWN, SUNDERLAND, CO. DURHAM. DIED AT Y.M.C.A., GREAT RUSSELL STREET.
Tottenham Court Road Funfair
- NORMAN, CECIL ARMSTRONG, age 41, HEAD FIREMAN, LONDON UNIVERSITY FIRE SERVICE; OF 92 REEDWORTH STREET, KENNINGTON. SON OF HELLEN ELIZABETH NORMAN, OF 34 GOLDEN MILLER LANE, POLEGATE, SUSSEX, AND OF THE LATE JOHN BEECROFT NORMAN. DIED AT FUN FAIR, TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD.
- SIMPSON, EDWIN CHARLES, age 50, OF 26 MORNINGTON CRESCENT. SON OF ALEXANDER FORD SIMPSON. DIED AT FUN FAIR, TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD.
- SPINER, IVY WINIFRED, age 26, OF 110 THEOBALD ROAD, HOLBORN. WIFE OF A.C.2 M. SPINER, R.A.F. DIED AT FUN FAIR, TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD. Miss Ivy Winifred Baker killed on 24th September 1940 when an enemy bomb struck an amusement arcade at 8 Tottenham Court Road, London where she was working. She was aged 26. Her brother Walter had been killed three months earlier when his submarine Grampus was depth-charged in the Mediterranean.
Tottenham Court Road
- IRVING, GEORGE HENRY, age 39, OF 6 FELLBRIGG ROAD, CAMBERWELL. SON OF THE LATE ARTHUR AND ELIZABETH IRVING, OF 41 THURLOW STREET, ST. PANCRAS. INJURED AT TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD; DIED SAME DAY ON WAY TO CHARING CROSS HOSPITAL.
Tottenham Court Road Lyons Corner House
- STYLIANOU, ANDRONIKOS, age 28, OF VIZAKIA, NICOSIA DISTRICT, CYPRUS. DIED AT LYONS CORNER HOUSE, TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD. The Lyons Corner House was at the junction of TCR and Hanway Street, with an entrance on Oxford Street
Oxford Street
- HUSSEIN, SEFFER, age 32, CYPRIOT NATIONAL; OF 8 STEPHEN STREET. INJURED AT OXFORD STREET; DIED SAME DAY AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE HOSPITAL.
Oxford Street 6
- McELLIGOTT, JOAN, age 19, OF 6 OXFORD STREET, ST. MARYLEBONE. DAUGHTER OF TIMOTHY MCELLIGOTT, OF CLAHANE, TRALEE, CO. KERRY, IRISH REPUBLIC. INJURED AT 6 OXFORD STREET, DIED SAME DAY ON WAY TO CHARING CROSS HOSPITAL.
Further reading
