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I have recently discovered that my Grandfather, Thomas Arthur House, was killed at the Running Horses public house, Erith, Kent at 1930 hrs on 29.11.40. He was an ARP ambulance driver and was 44 yrs old. He was killed with an ARP stretcher bearer called Henry George Frederick Parry, aged 19 yrs. Both men were buried at Brook Street Cemetery on 05.12.40 and are they are listed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. An Albert Sydney Humphreys, fireman, A.F.S., was also killed with them, aged 50 yrs.

A local Researcher has informed me that a couple of years prior to 1940 the old Cannon and Gaze flour mill on the site of the present Riverside Gardens was demolished. After much public debate a garden was laid out although the majority of it was made up of flag stones. These had been laid out over the foundations of the mill which were of deep reinforced concrete.

On the night of 29 November 1940 he remembers as a 5 year old being in the cupboard under the stairs at his house in Crayford Road, Erith (considered to be the safest place as the family had given up using the damp Anderson). His father was out firewatching that night and returned home to tell them the "Crown had got it." He has since discovered that a bomb had landed on the Gardens roughly opposite that which is now Saltford Close, then Cross Street, but owing to the thickness of the concrete it failed to penetrate, causing considerable blast damage.

The Crown public house which stood on the opposite corner to the Running Horses, was so severely damaged it was never used again and was later demolished (not before his friends had managed to have a wonderful time playing on the damaged building). The Landlord and his wife Mr and Mrs Withernden, were killed as were two ladies who died as a result of their injuries. The landlord of the newly completed Running Horses Mr Zacharia Cole was killed instantly having been standing at the front door of his pub at the time. Apart from the deaths of my grandfather and his colleagues there were no less than twenty people injured.

A part of the old mill had been left to form part of the garden and at the time of the incident was used by the ARP as a post. One of the wardens (Henry Sims) who was slightly injured said that the victims inside the pub were all seated at the table and had no visible injuries, they were typical blast victims.

I have visited Brook Street Cemetery with my mother, who was a wartime evacuee at the time of my grandfather's death. Sadly there is nothing there other than a patch of grass as my grandmother had insisted on a private burial, probably a sacrifice due the war effort, otherwise he would have been entitled to a Civilian War Grave.

I feel it is my duty to honour his death with a proper mark of respect and have already received some support from the current landlord of The Running Horses. An article has also appeared in the local press, which resulted in contact being made with the younger brother of Henry Parry sixty three years after the incident.

Visitors to this website may also be interested to know that the Civilians Remembered Trust are proposing to submit designs for a Memorial and Park for the Hermitage Riverside site in Tower Hamlets, which will include a bronze relief showing the Queen Mother with East Enders during the Blitz and a list of names within the Memorial Pavilion in constant rotation, in order to commemorate the civilians who suffered and perished. People wishing to support the application are encouraged to write to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Council Planning Office (41-47 Bow Road, London, E3 2BS) on behalf of the Trust (The forget-me-not is a symbol of civilians who have died in war).

I would be interested to hear from anyone with any other information about my grandfather as I do not have any photographs of him. He was born in Westminster on 12/11/1896 and served wth the Royal Field Artillery 1914-1920 (Regimental No. L/20079).