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- Tragic Devonport Family
Echoes of a Tragedy
A gravestone for two young girls in the Weston Mill Cemetery, Plymouth, attracted the attention of a visitor because it declared they had been killed in the "Queen Street Disaster".
Mrs. Mavis Potts tells me her son came across the stone, which gave the girls' ages as nine and five and said they died in January 23, 1939.
But what, asked Mrs. Potts, was the Queen Street Disaster?
I have taken a look at the "Western Evening Herald" files of the time and found a tragic story. Here is a summary of the contemporary account taken from the paper published within twelve hours of the event.
At the height of the gale early this morning between 1.5 and 1.10 am the wind was blowing at almost hurricane force, when the south wall of No. 45 Queen Street, Devonport, only a few yards from the Dockyard gates at Fore Street, was blown in.
As it tottered the top of the house collapsed.
On the top floor a family of five named Smale were sleeping and on the second floor were the Bassetts, the father, mother and five children.
The Smales were all rescued, along with Mr. and Mrs. Bassett, and three of their children. The two other Bassett children, Beryl, aged seven years, and Barbara, aged eight years, were later found in the debris and taken to the Prince of Wales hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
Also taken to the hospital was Mr. G. Smale, aged 45, with head injuries and severe shock; and also injured was another of the Bassett daughters, aged 16.
Police and firemen had to remove tons of debris to effect the rescue of the occupants. They were assisted by a naval man, believed to be Leading Seaman Gilmour, of HMS Basiliks, who was passing at the tme of the collapse.
He worked like a "Trojan" and slipped quietly away after the bodies of the two little girls had been recovered.
Some two months earlier the house adjjoining No. 45 had been pulled down leaving the south wall of No. 45 exposed to the elements.
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Bassett Family Association Database
Abt 1932 - 1939 (7 years)