The night the Blitz hit Balham – 80 years on…

It’s the evening of 14th October 1940, and one of the worst wartime disasters of the London Underground is about to take place.

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German bombers were overhead and people had taken to the shelters, including the platforms at Balham underground station. The trains would have still been running at the time, and commuters would have been stepping over people using the station for protection.

Although just 13 metres below ground, the platforms were considered deep enough to be classed as an official shelter point.

At exactly 2 minutes past 8pm, a bomb hit the road above, causing a massive crater in the ground, and fracturing a water mains below ground. The subsequent flood of water and soil into the tunnel was to kill nearly 70 people.

Riverside Radio marked the anniversary with a special documentary at 8pm on Wednesday 14th October 2020.

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NAMES OF THOSE KILLED AT BALHAM ON 14th OCTOBER 1940

BALLAM, FRANCES SARAH (Age 55)
BALLAM, MARGARET EMILY (Age 26)
BALLAM, PERCY FREDERICK (Age 55)
BAXENDINE, ALICE (Age 26)
BAXENDINE, JAMES CHARLES (Age 26)
BELL, CLARENCE MONTAGUE (Age 42) [Staff: Guard Acting Porter]
BENBROOK, GLADYS BESSIE (Age 42)*
BOLAND, ERNEST FREDERICK (Age 27)
BROWN, ADA MARY (Age 41)
BROWN, CONSTANCE (Age 14)
BROWN, HARRY (Age 21)
BROWN, IVY EDITH (Age 26)
BROWN, JAMES WILLIAM (Age 41)
BROWN, JOYCE (Age 12)
BROWN, MARY ANN (Age 65)
BUDD, CAROLINE SARAH HILDA (Age 58)
BUDD, OLIVE HILDA (Age 13)
CAREY, GEORGE WALTER (Age 57)
COMBEN, ALFRED JOSEPH (Age 48)
COMBEN, EMMA EMILY (Age 45)
COTTINGHAM, ELIZABETH (Age 55)
COTTINGHAM, JOSEPH WILLIAM (Age 53)
COURTNEY, BRIDGET (Age 49)
COURTNEY, MARY (Age 26)
DIBBLE, ROY JOHN (Age 7)
DOBBS, FREDERICK JAMES (Age 41)
DUDLEY, FREDERICK ARTHUR (Age 34)
FLACK, EMILY ANN (Age 47)
FLACK, WINIFRED MARY (Age 20)
GRAHAM, SAMUEL (Age 26)
GREENHEAD, ALBERT (Age 32)
HALL, EDWARD JOHN (Age 40)
HARRISON, ARTHUR EDWIN (Age 43)
HARRISON, ETHEL OLIVE (Age 46)
HARRISON, JOAN (Age 20)
HARRISON, KATHLEEN OLIVE (Age 16)
HARRISON, PATRICIA (Age 13)
HERON, ELSIE IRENE (Age 47)
HERON, FREDERICK WILLIAM JOHN (Age 24)
HERON, JOHN (Age 47)
HYDE, GEORGE FRANCIS (Age 60)
HYDE, IRENE LOUISA (Age 37)
LYLE, GRACE (Age 14)
LYLE, MARGARET GRACE (Age 59)
MANSFIELD, IRIS AUDREY (Age 19)
MANSFIELD, NELLIE GRACE (Age 5)
MILLER, CAROLINE ELIZABETH (Age 52)
NEAL, LAWRENCE ARCHIBALD (Age 45)
NEAL, MARIE CLARE (Age 16)
NEAL, SARAH (Age 45)
NEAL, SIDNEY (Age 19)
PALMER, EMILY LOUISA (Age 37.)
PALMER, THOMAS SAMUEL (Age 63)
PARRISH, JAMES WILLIAM (Age 54)
RAVENING, ELSIE MARY (Age 35)
RAVENING, MICHAEL JOHN ANTHONY (Age 4)
RHIND, DAISY BERTHA (Age 40)
RUNDLE, JOHN (Age 64) [Staff: Station Master]
SEXTON, ALFRED ROBERT JAMES (Age 46)
SEXTON, ARTHUR GEORGE (Age 4)
SEXTON, MAUD ALICE ROSE (Age 34)
SHOPLAND, LEONARD GEORGE (Age 38)
TRUDGILL, MORNINGTON SYDNEY (Age 35) [Staff: Porter]
WELSH, FRANCIS PATRICK (Age 19)
WILLER, MARY HELEN (Age 50)
WILSON, EDITH (Age 51)

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