Many of the news accounts of the funerals made no mention of the cause of death. Due to censorship, headlines in the local paper simply mentioned ‘Bomb Damage in North-West Town’. This would certainly not fool local readers, and probably no-one else either.

The Thompson family lived at 30 Hill Road, which is where mother and daughter died on the night of 4 May 1941.

Bryn Trescatheric’s book The Barrow Blitz (p.22) Dock Museum 2009 quotes Mrs E.A. thus:

My father was G.H., owner of a drapery warehouse, and we lived at 54 Hawcoat Lane. On the night of Saturday, 3 May when the sirens sounded my father and I were on a fire watching rota and had to make contact with Mr. H. who lived at 38 Hawcoat Lane. As we were leaving the house I had to go back to get my grey firewatching tin hat, my father said he’d go on and I was to catch him up. When I returned to the front door I saw large objects hurtling through the sky. I rushed indoors and there was a terrific explosion. My father and Mr. H. were both killed. Later that night a land mine floated over our house and landed in Hill Road, killing Mrs. T. and her younger daughter. We were told it would be safer to leave our house and go to the shelter inside Vickers Sports Ground.

From the CWGC website we can learn that G.H. was George Hemingway, while Mr. H. was Arthur Howard Heath, a wine & spirits merchant, who contrary to the above is listed as living at 34 Hawcoat Lane.

Others who died on Hill Road were Mr & Mrs Hudson, at no. 26, while 2 died at 91 Hawcoat Lane, Kathleen Barker, aged 21, and Noel Lupton, aged 42, who may have been a lodger or a relative.