Remembering the Zeppelin Raid on Loughborough

I recently picked up what looked like it could be an interesting book from a second-hand shop. It was a bound copy of some photocopied pages of a series of poems, written by someone called Laura Jones. What caught my attention was that the poems seemed to all relate to the period around the First World War, and had titles like ‘The Call to Arms’, ‘Our Brave Jack Tars’, and ‘A Soldier’s Death’. But, the poem which stood out to me was the one called ‘Lines on the Zeppelin Raid’.

 

So who was Laura Jones? From the little information I have been able to piece together, it seems Laura was named Marianna Laura Mears, and her birth was recorded in the first quarter of 1866, at Burton-on-Trent. Her parents were William, a banking clerk, and Mary (possibly nee Brown), and her siblings included Horace, Louisa, and Samuel. Sadly, William died in 1873, leaving somewhere between £2,000 and £4,000, and Mary, his wife died only two years later in 1875. At the time, Marianna Laura was only aged 9, and it is said she was then cared for by an uncle, who placed her in a boarding school, which happened to be at 88 Regent Road, Leicester, houses which I believe were originally built to house railways workers. [They are still standing, but are set back of Regent Road, behind a car park for Regent House, and the pedestrian access is off West Street].

In 1884 Marianna Laura married William Henry Jones. How they met, I have no idea! William was four years older than Marianna Laura, and was born in Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain, in what was then Montgomeryshire, now Powys. They first made their home in Llandinio, at a farm called New Crosswood, and together raised five children. It is said they moved to Thrussington, before setting up a more permanent home at 131 Cossington Road, Sileby, where William was a watchmaker and jeweller. William died in 1928, and it’s possible that Marianna Laura moved to live with her daughter and son-in-law on Churchill Road, Gloucester, as she appears here in the electoral registers for 1935-1937, and on the 1939 Register. Marianna Laura’s death in 1946 was published in the 'Leicester Mercury', the report implying that she was living at 131 Cossington Road, Sileby.

So, what of the poems? As well as appearing in the photocopied pages I unearthed in the second-hand shop, it appears the poems were published under the title ‘A Selection of War-Time Rhymes’, composed by L. Jones, Sileby Leicestershire. It was published by Topping and Sons, Printers and Stationers, Loughborough. The volume of poetry is not dated, but is clearly post-1916, and from the name of the publishers, would have been published pre-1928, as by then the business was known as Toppings Ltd., although was still based at 1 Wood Gate (listed as 1 Leicester Road in 1892, but probably the same site).

As today is the anniversary of the dropping of the Zeppelin bombs on Loughborough, and the subsequent deaths of ten people, here is the poem in full:

Lines on the Zeppelin Raid

The day was ended; o’er the earth

The peaceful night had crept,

And toil-worn hands were resting,

While little children slept.

 

A monster glided through the air,

A huge, ungainly shape;

Freighted with death for hapless ones

Which they could not escape.

 

A Zeppelin! The cry went forth

And even as ‘twas heard,

Bomb followed bomb, from murderous hands;

The stoutest hear was stirred.

 

Hovering o-erhead like birds of prey,

The Huns with fiendish haste,

Hurled forth with glee, their deadly store,

And hearth, and home laid waste.

 

A babe, killed in its mother’s arms,

Two lovers, hand in hand;

A bride and groom just newly wed,

A truly martyred band.

 

A lady, too, on mission work,

God’s messenger of grace;

Was killed while speaking, now she serves

Her master face to face.

 

Can we such ruthless deeds condone?

No; rather will we go

To the last man; fired with new zeal

And fight the treacherous foe.

 

For right is might, and God will help

Our cause to win the day.

May free born Britons never live

To cringe ‘neath German sway.

Composed by Laura Jones 

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For other accounts of the Zeppelin raid, and commemorative events, please search the blog for 'Zeppelin'. This link might do just that!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Dyer, Lynne (2026). Remembering the Zeppelin Raid on Loughborough. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2026/01/remembering-zeppelin-raid-on.html  [Accessed 31 January 2026]

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