Hampstall River Severn ferry disaster centenary marked

The centenary of a ferry disaster that left nine people dead, including three children, has been marked with a special commemorative event

Two families, from Birmingham and Smethwick, were devastated when the vessel capsized as it crossed the River Severn at Hampstall in 1919.

It is thought the wake from another boat, plus overcrowding, caused the small boat to overturn.

At the ceremony roses were thrown into the river at Astley Burf.

A special poem was also read out at the event, near Stourport-on-Severn.

Barbara Bradley, of the Astley and Dunley History Group, said the drowning had been "a terrible disaster" and, according to newspaper reports at the time, thousands of people had lined the streets for the funerals.

"We decided to hold an event as there is no plaque or anything to commemorate the event, which we thought was a shame," she said.

"So we made it a project to get a plaque and a notice board to put up."

Fred Greenhow, who was at the service, said his grandmother Ellen Greenhow had been one of the people who had helped rescue survivors.

"I understand that she was on the river in a boat and had shouted over that there were too many people on [the boat]," he said.

"She saved the lives of five people. She came upstream, put two or three in her boat, took them to shore and then went back and got more people who were clinging to the upturned boat."

Also at the service was Terry Matthews, who found out just a few days beforehand, when researching family history, that his great uncle and aunt and their five-year-old daughter had perished in the water.

"I'm very, very shocked," he said,

"We knew nothing about [the drowning] nobody told us."

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