Whilst tidying the site this week, we took the opportunity to revisit the site's database of victims which is based on the Mortuary Records of those who died.
We noticed a discrepancy between these records and the Official Air Raid figures and the Deaths and Fatal Injuries at North Shields on May 3rd 1941 page on the GENUKI site which definitively lists the civilian casualties of the raid.
1. The Official Air Raid Figures (see Archive 09) states that 105 people were killed in the Wilkinson's disaster. This has long been accepted as fact.
However....
2. The Mortuary Records dbase on this site lists 102 victims. Of these, 2 victims did not die at Wilkinson's. (Ethel Ada HUNTER, age 49 and Margaret KING, age 61, were killed when a bomb hit 3 George Street.)
This database does NOT list the 7 people who died from their injuries later in hospital.
The total of deaths from this perspective is therefore 107.
3, The GENUKI page lists 96 deaths in the shelter and a further 7 who died in hospital. However, there are 4 people who are listed in the Mortuary Records who do NOT feature in this list. The GENUKI page is a listing of civilian casualties taken from the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour. The missing 4 are all MILITARY personnel.
The total of deaths here is also 96+7+4 = 107.
So, can we now say 107 deaths and not 105? There is still the issue of the Official Air Raid figures, but perhaps an error can be expected given the report was published in October 1944, over 3 years after the event.
Feel free to leave your comments....