Deaths in childbirth, deaths of babies and infants are high up there on the emotional chart, as are people who died in accidents.
1956 doesn’t seem all that long ago … The burial place of Joseph William Birkle, who died in a flying accident is in the old cemetery on Leicester Road. The inscription states the bare facts:
In
Loving memory
of
Joeph William
Birkle
who was killed
in an air crash
September 28th
1956.
Aged 34
years.
R.I.P.
Joseph William’s birth on 1st December 1921 was registered in Loughborough. Joseph, who lived at 34 Wallace Road, married Pamela E. Adams on 30 May 1956 at the Church of Our Lady Queen of Peace, Richmond. Joseph was a Ministry of Supply experimental officer in aircraft research development in Felixstowe.
We know Joseph died in an air crash on 28th September 1956, just 4 months after his marriage. He left £2,873 19s. 3d.. Is there any more we can find out about the air crash? Indeed there is. Joseph had gained his pilot’s licence on 30th November 1950, and had probably trained in mechanical engineering. The accident was widely reported in the newspapers, which state that the twin-jet bomber named Canberra crashed and set on fire near the RAF Station at Martlesham Heath, close to Ipswich. The weather was apparently stormy, which probably had an effect on the voyage, in which Joseph was the passenger.
Over in the churchyard of the parish church is a memorial stone commemorating a drowning in the River Soar in 1767. Well, actually, three drownings. I haven’t been able to find a newspaper report for the sad occurrence, but the memorial stone is quite descriptive:
Here lie
in the same
Grave
the Bodies of
THOMAS
BOMBROFFE Aged 46
WILLIAM PECK
Aged 20
WILLIAM SMITH
Aged 18
all of the
Parish
who were
unfortunately drowned together
in the River
Soar on the ninth day of July 1767
It is
presumed that T. Bombroffe lost his Life by endeavouring
to save his
two companions for he only was ¬found in his Clothes/Some of the
principal Inhabitants of this Parish
tenderly
concerned for the sudden Fate of these their
Fellow
Christians and for a perpetual Warning to all others
cause this
Stone to be erected by voluntary Subscription
READER
be thou
constantly prepared for Death
to which thou
art exposed every Hour
by Accident
by Carelessness ...
Back in the old cemetery on Leicester Road is a memorial headstone to Harry Hollingsworth Beck, who died on 1 st April 1889, at the age of only 18.
In
loving memory
of
Harry
Holingsworth
Beck
only son of
Frederick
and Sarah
Beck,
who after a
short but
painful illness
caused
by accident
died
April 1st
1889,
aged 18 years
Also of Sarah
the beloved
wife of
Frederick Beck,
who died December
22nd 1926
aged 80 years
Also of
Frederick,
beloved husband
of the above
who died December
15th 1927
aged 80 years
A report which appeared around the time of Harry’s death is most illuminating:
It’s always sad to read about lives that were cut short, however short, but especially as the result of an accident.
____________________________________
Posted by lynneaboutloughborough
With apologies for
typos which are all mine!
_______________________________________________
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Dyer, Lynne (2026). 31 Days of Graves Day 22 Accident. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2026/10/31-days-of-graves-day-22-accident.html [Accessed 22 October 2026]
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