Shortly before midnight on Saturday 3 May 1941 a lone German raider dropped 4 bombs on the Tyneside town of North Shields. One bomb hit the beach. Another burst in Stephenson Street and exploded harmlessly, while a third hit a house in George Street and killed two people. Tragically the fourth bomb made a direct hit on Wilkinson’s lemonade factory at the junction of King Street and George Street. 107 people would die from that single bomb.
The night was warm but overcast. The air raid sirens had sounded at 11.12pm.

At 11.45pm, Special Constable Matthew Layzell was on patrol in North Shields with Special Constabulary Inspector Joseph Stuart checking the black-out.
Walking along Tynemouth Road, Matthew heard the rumble of a lone bomber very close. Looking up he saw nothing, not even the familiar barrage balloon – the cloud cover was too low to make out the plane. But he knew that somewhere nearby was going to get it.
Moments later the explosion sounded. Running quickly up the road directed by the noise they turned into King Street. It was now deathly silent. Wilkinson’s Lemonade Factory had taken a direct hit.
He realised immediately that a disaster had happened – Wilkinson’s basement was a popular Air Raid Shelter. It was a Saturday night. It would be full of people from the neighbouring streets.
Matthew Layzell and Inspector Stuart were first at the scene. Minutes later Air Raid Precautions workers arrived and cordoned off the area. Wardens moved over the debris shining torches into the gaps and shouting for survivors.
For some it would be the start of their grimmest working day. George Newstead and Clarence Burdiss worked for 15 hours trying to rescue survivors. They were later awarded one of the UK’s highest civilian awards for bravery: The George Medal.
Norman Darling Black, a member of the First Aid Party won the British Empire Medal for making ‘sustained and strenuous efforts to free injured persons from the debris’.

The scale of the tragedy became clear in the hours that followed. Three of the shelter’s compartments were completely destroyed and adjacent walls caved in. 192 people were in the shelter when the bomb hit. 107 people were killed, 10 seriously injured and 43 slightly injured. 41 children under 16 were victims. Two others were killed by a bomb from the same plane which hit a nearby house at 3 George Street.
Many of those killed had been crushed by the weight of the falling machinery from the factory floors. For many locals it had been a disaster waiting to happen. Many had refused to use the Shelter precisely because of the risk from the heavy machinery above.
Popular With Locals
In the basement of the three-storey structure was a communal air raid shelter. As the warning sirens wailed that night, 192 people hurried to take refuge there. Although it was an old Victorian building Wilkinson’s was a popular place to go. Many domestic shelters were cramped, cold and damp whereas the factory’s basement rooms were heavily reinforced, warm and comfortable. The atmosphere was good too, almost like a party.
Millie Matthews, 14 in 1941, remembered:

People were friendly and there was an accordionist. People could forget the trouble of that particular time.

Amazing Escape
When the bomb struck the catastrophe was almost instant. Survivors heard a distant thump and then the roof collapsed. The bottling machinery and debris from the upper floors crashed into the cellar, crushing or trapping the occupants. A few people near the exit were able to get out, while a handful of others like 19 year old Stanley Hull had an astounding escape. He recalled:

I heard a dull thud, a big gust, and the dirt and dust fell. I saw a gap. Went for it and went out and just walked home and told my mother and father.

Grim Discoveries
The ARP (Air Raid Precautions) rescue and demolition squads arrived quickly but were faced with a nightmare operation. Three cellar bays had been completely destroyed and there was the constant risk of more wreckage collapsing. In the following hours the scale of the tragedy became apparent as the casualties mounted – and the dead outnumbered the living.
Whole families had been lost. Robert William Sutherst recalled that his mother and cousin were killed and his brother (Thomas Martin Sutherst) lost part of his leg. His sister, Alice Emmerson Sutherst was buried underneath layers of rubble, yet emerged virtually unscathed following her ordeal. Alice was discovered two days after the horror and trauma sustained by the shelter bombing by the pet dog of Mr Thomas Marshall, the local chimney sweep, whilst both were out on a walking exercise. Robert’s father was given compassionate leave from the army and identified the bodies.
Ronald Curran was saved by the stubborness of his mother. When the air raid warnings sounded relatives asked her to go to Wilkinson’s with them – almost a family outing – but she refused. He remembered her saying: “If we die we’ll die in our own home”. Obstinately she took shelter with Ronald in a cupboard under the stairs. The next day he found out that his grandmother, aunt and cousins, Veronica and Maureen were all dead.
Bravery…
The heroism of the rescuers was without question and two earned the George Medal for bravery.

George Newstead cut a hole through to a cellar bay full of injured and dead. The casualties were gingerly taken out except for one man who was pinned down by a steel girder. He was in agony so a doctor was called to give him an anaesthetic and reluctantly, it was decided that the only way to save him was to amputate his foot. While the doctor crawled out to get his instruments George decided to have one more go at freeing the survivor. In spite of the risk of bringing down tons of debris he got a small jack under the girder and raised it slightly. It was just enough. By cutting the man’s boot off they were able to ease his leg out and drag him clear.
Clarence Burdiss cut a second hole through a thick wall to reach another smashed room in the basement. Here the casualties were lying amidst the splintered remains of their bunk beds. For four gruelling hours he slowly moved casualties from their shattered tomb. Finally he collapsed with exhaustion, yet when he recovered, insisted on going back into the ruins and pulled out several more people.
Norman Darling Black, serving with a First Aid unit, struggled through a narrow opening, risking his life to find living people buried under the debris. For four hours he worked at great hazard to extricate a child imprisoned by many tons of masonry. He was advised to rest after this dangerous feat but returned to rescue an imprisoned man. With a ‘jack’ Mr Black began to prize up the crashed roof, knowing that four high walls and about 40 tons of machinery were suspended insecurely above his head. A doctor crawled in and handed anesthetic to Brother Black who adminstered it to the imprisoned man. He then cut the vicitm’s boots away and pulled the man out of his boots to freedom. Mr Black was awarded the British Empire Medal.
Mrs Ellen Lee – Shelter Warden and Heroine
The Wilkinson’s shelter warden, Mrs Lee, lived on Tynemouth Road, just around the corner from Wilkinson’s. She was a popular local figure and is remembered by many for helping some 32 survivors escape from the Shelter despite having burns to her body. Her heroic efforts went officially unrewarded.
The Final Toll
Shortly after the raid the Church Way mortuary was opened. As bodies were recovered they were taken there for identification, a grim procedure that lasted for five days. The final death toll from the Wilkinson’s shelter incident was 107. For many of the survivors however, the pain of that evening has never departed.
This website is in remembrance of those lost and in recognition of those who survived. It is the memory of a town in wartime.
This was the worst bombing disaster in North East England during the Second World War. It was also the second worst single bomb disaster in the UK during the entire War.