Zeppelins over Loughborough
18 November 2015
On the night of 31st January 1916 four bombs were dropped on Loughborough by a German Zeppelin airship heading for Liverpool. Ten people were killed in the raid, twelve people injured and considerable damage done to the town.
Prevented from reaching its target by poor weather, the Zeppelin is thought to have attacked Loughborough because its undimmed lighting gave a clear view of the town. The Herbert Morris engineering works with its many roof-windows was said to be ‘ablaze with light’. The factory was evacuated but two quick-thinking employees – Ernest Stubley and Beatrice Smith – went back inside to to turn off the lights. Later, they each received the OBE for their bravery.
The Zeppelin went on to drop further bombs in Ilkeston in Derbyshire and Burton on Trent in Staffordshire.
In May 2014, Dr Robert Knight of Loughborough University and Mel Gould of the Carillon Museum were interviewed by Bridget Blair of Radio Leicester about the Zeppelin raid on Loughborough. A recording of the programme they were featured in can be found here. You can read a Leicester Mercury article about the raid which includes photographs of the damage suffered in Loughborough.
Shrapnel from the night of the Zeppelin raid, currenty on display in the Carillon War Memorial Museum. (Photo sourced from the ‘Leicestershire Revealed in a 100 Objects‘ website.)
George Hill of Loughborough – display at Loughborough Library
3 November 2015
George Hill of Loughborough: Grocers, Wine Merchants and Shippers – 1909 to 2015
November 2015 saw the opening of an exhibition at Loughborough Library on longstanding local wine merchants Geo. Hill of Wards End, Loughborough.
Opened on 3rd November and running to 11th December 2015, the exhibition was a joint venture between Loughborough Library Local Studies Volunteers and the current Managing Director of the store – Andrew Hill – and his staff. Hill’s has been in existence in the town since 1909 and is still going strong today.
From their earliest years Hill’s has been famous for their innovative and creative window displays. You can see photographs from the company’s own archive – which formed part of the display at the Library – here.
