Civilians in Danger
Zeppelin Raids on the
North-East of England 1915
North-East of England 1915
“A Zeppelin visited the north-east
coast last evening…”
coast last evening…”
The almost innocuous words above come from a censored headline in the Jarrow Express of 18 June 1915. Springing from this news story our Year 6 pupils were released from the regular school curriculum to investigate a dramatic local incident: the attack by Zeppelin L10 on 15 June 1915 on Palmer’s shipyard. This led to the deaths of 16 workers and injuries to 72 others. The site now Rohm and Haas chemical works, is a brief walk from the school.
The dead are commemorated on local memorials and several are buried in marked graves in Jarrow cemetery. The most vivid primary sources for this project are regional newspaper accounts of the raids held in local archives and libraries. The careers and social context of soldiers selected from nearby memorials were researched on the internet using sites such as CWGC, Ancestry and Find My Past.
The role of Jarrow at war was studied through a brief survey of local industries, including the nearby site of Hawthorn Leslie shipyard.
The new experience of British civilians living on the ‘front line’ after a century of safety in their ‘island fortress’ had been breached. Civilians were now firmly in the firing line.
Sinister Sky
I crane my neck and peer at the sinister sky.
Crowds gather to witness the mysterious silhouette emerging above us.
We were promised some type of warning.
We had no notion it was a lie
A pupil from St Oswald’s school
The role of Jarrow at war was studied through a brief survey of local industries, including the nearby site of Hawthorn Leslie shipyard.
The new experience of British civilians living on the ‘front line’ after a century of safety in their ‘island fortress’ had been breached. Civilians were now firmly in the firing line.
Sinister Sky
I crane my neck and peer at the sinister sky.
Crowds gather to witness the mysterious silhouette emerging above us.
We were promised some type of warning.
We had no notion it was a lie
A pupil from St Oswald’s school
Class Teacher
Amy Shepherd
St Oswald’s C of E Primary School
Hebburn
School Project Coordinators
Peter Hepplewhite
Neil Tonge
Jarrow and Hebburn Local History Society
Ken Goss
Ken Findlay
South Shields Library
Catryn Galt
Newcastle University Robinson Library special collections
Newcastle Journal
Tyne and Wear Archives Museum
Heritage lottery Fund FW-14-08086
To download all the assets for this project as one large zip file click on the link below (21.8 mb).
Civilians_in_Danger.zip
To download the individual files use the links below.
To save the file to disk, right-click (Mac, control-click) and choose ‘save link as…’
(left-click on a pdf opens the file in the browser window)
Civilians_in_Danger.zip
To download the individual files use the links below.
To save the file to disk, right-click (Mac, control-click) and choose ‘save link as…’
(left-click on a pdf opens the file in the browser window)
Hebburn and Jarrow on the eve of WW1
Zeppelin Raid April 1914
Zeppelin Raid June 1915
Air Raids and Invasion
Air Raid Inquest
Jarrow Cemetery Search
Zeppelin Victims in Jarrow Cemetery
Zeppelin Literacy Lesson