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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.

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 12

Other Subjects

Bell Moor house, Hampstead

Bell Moor house, Hampstead

On this site four cottages were built in 1810-20: Albion House, Bell-Moor, Hurst Lodge and Harrow Cottage. In 1820 Sir John Jackson, director of the East India Co., died in Bell-moor. In 1875-80 Th...

Building, Property

1 memorial
Edmund William Richardson

Edmund William Richardson

Company Secretary of the Planet Building Society.  c.1871 he demolished the old Friary House and built the present house in which he lived until his death. British History Online details some prop...

Person, Politics & Administration, Property, Religion

1 memorial
John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford

John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford

Continued the development of Bloomsbury including the building of the Covent Garden Market in the Piazza. He received a royal grant permitting the market.

Person, Property

1 memorial
St Marylebone Almshouses

St Marylebone Almshouses

Funded from Count Woronzow's will.  Built in 1836 and then re-built on the same site in 1965.  Occupy the west corner at the junction of St John’s Wood Terrace and Woronzow Road.  Lots more info at...

Building, Property, Social Welfare

1 memorial
The Grange

The Grange

It consisted of two eighteenth century red-brick houses. Famous occupants were, Samuel Richardson, the writer and printer, from 1738 to 1754, and Sir Edward Burne-Jones from 1867 until his death in...

Building, Property

1 memorial