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Workers killed at work (builders)

Categories: Property, Tragedy

Group

The thousands of building workers who have lost their lives at work.

Researching one of these terrible events reminded us that we have found other memorials to people who died in 'accidents' at work. We don't like the word 'accident', since it suggests that nothing could have been done to prevent the death and that is seldom true. We've put together a list of these memorials to deaths at work (many but not all, building workers). To keep it manageable we have excluded: those serving in the emergency services, those killed in terrorist attacks or by war-time bombs, and those killed in rail crashes or on the road.

1853 - ten workmen killed at the Sydenham Crystal Palace construction site.

1877 - six crew members killed during the voyage bringing Cleopatra's Needle to London.

1895 - four men killed at the sewage pumping works, East Ham (Postman's Park).

1899 - one man killed in a boiler explosion at a Battersea sugar refinery (Postman's Park).

1899 - one stewardess drowned (Postman's Park).

1901 - three workmen poisoned by gas at a Stratford distillery ((Postman's Park).

1912 - about 900 crew members lost on the Titanic.

1917 - 73 people were killed in the Silvertown explosion, at a factory producing TNT for the war.

1969 - one demolition worker killed in the Dudgeon's Wharf explosion.

1975 - two engineers killed trying to rescue a third who also died, at Watneys' Mortlake Brewery.

1979 - four men involved in the design of Burgess Park killed in an air crash near Biggin Hill (not certain this was work-related).

1990 - three men killed by the gases in a sewer in Commercial Road.

2000 - three men killed in a construction crane at Canary Wharf.

The death toll at each of the events recorded on plaques in Postman's Park may be higher, but the plaques do not mention deaths of any except those attempting rescue.

In 2006 the statue to the thousands of building workers who have lost their lives at work was erected.

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Workers killed at work (builders)

Commemorated ati

Ainsworth & Sharp

We could find nothing about this incident, until we asked Richmond Council's ...

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Burgess, Clark and Whittard

In memory of Martin Burgess, Peter Clark and Michael Whittard, who died on 21...

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Burgess Park designers - 1979 air crash

Geoffrey Mills was the pilot - see his page for more details. Our information...

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Cleopatra's needle - crew members lost

{A list of 6 names, oddly not in alphabetical sequence - see Subjects commemo...

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Crystal Palace workmen's grave

Twelve workmen were killed, but we are unable to find out where the other two...

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Show all 13

Other Subjects

George Bird and family

George Bird and family

Builders and brick makers in West London. Considering their contribution to many prominent projects (listed on the plaque), it is surprising that there is no information available on them. We firs...

Group, Property

1 memorial
52 Tavistock Square

52 Tavistock Square

Lived in by Leonard and Virginia Woolf 1924-39. Our picture source also has some photos of the interior, and explains that, even though they have moved out, the destruction of this house affected V...

Building, Property

2 memorials
Griggs and Son

Griggs and Son

Builders of Westminster.

Group, Property

1 memorial
St Pancras Housing Association

St Pancras Housing Association

One of the earlier housing associations. In 1924 Father Basil Jellicoe founded the St Pancras House Improvement Society Ltd which was later named the St Pancras Housing Association. In 2000 it merg...

Group, Property, Social Welfare

2 memorials
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

The Surveyors Club was formed in 1792 but the modern group was formed in 1868 at a meeting in London's Westminster Palace Hotel. It received a royal charter on 26 August 1881. Its HQ has been at t...

Group, Property

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Alexander Williamson Fallon

Alexander Williamson Fallon

Alexander Williamson Fallon was born in 1914 in Falkirk, Scotland. He was married with four daughters. His wife, Janet, died about 1974 and he drifted into homelessness in London in the 1980's. He...

Person, Tragedy, Scotland

1 memorial
Sir John Soane statue

Sir John Soane statue

EC2, Lothbury, Bank of England

Soane designed the Bank of England in 1793. It was rebuilt between the wars and little of Soane's acclaimed design remains; there is this...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Jane Austen - WC2

Jane Austen - WC2

WC2, Henrietta Street, 10

Jane stayed here with her brother, Henry, and while in London visited the exhibition of Sir Joshua Reynolds' paintings at the British Ins...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Sir Peter Lely
1 memorial
King Charles II

King Charles II

Reigned: 1660 - 1685. Born at St James's Palace. The son of the beheaded Charles I, he was the king "restored" to the throne after the civil war. Married Catherine of Braganza in 1662 but she prod...

Person, Race Issues, Royalty, Seriously Famous

19 memorials