{"id":1771,"date":"2020-07-27T08:30:32","date_gmt":"2020-07-27T08:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=1771"},"modified":"2020-07-27T08:02:08","modified_gmt":"2020-07-27T08:02:08","slug":"beales-bombs-and-evidence-within-the-archives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2020\/07\/27\/beales-bombs-and-evidence-within-the-archives\/","title":{"rendered":"Beales, bombs and evidence within the archives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bournemouth suffered a devastating aerial assault when\u00a0<\/span>23<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>May 1943, a German \u2018Tip and Run\u2019 raid attacked the town.\u00a0 The incident is\u00a0<\/span>well recorded<\/span><\/a>\u00a0as the cost in human lives and physical destruction was\u00a0<\/span>severe<\/span>\u00a0with\u00a0<\/span>a reputed 130 deaths and\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>levelling of over 50 buildings.\u00a0 Amongst the premises badly affected w<\/span>ere two large hotels, the\u00a0<\/span>Metropole and Central, as well as<\/span>\u00a0Beales Department Store<\/span>\u00a0wh<\/span>ere a severed gas main added to the peril faced by civilians and emergency services alike.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Two recently acquired collections at DHC offer different, but complementary evidence on this event and its aftermath. A small collection (D-3080) of material purchased at auction thanks to Dorset Archives Trust<\/a> consists of the privately kept records of a local Boscombe resident who meticulously maintained a log of all alerts and actual aerial attacks made on Bournemouth during WWII.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The handwritten\u00a0<\/span>material<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>provides the time and date of each alert or attack as well as the location<\/span>\u00a0and type<\/span>\u00a0of\u00a0<\/span>any bomb dropped,\u00a0<\/span>including<\/span>\u00a0the author\u2019s own location at that same time.\u00a0 The collection also includes a map\u00a0<\/span>identifying the bomb sites.<\/span>\u00a0 On the day of the notorious attack, the author clearly records the\u00a0<\/span>raid<\/span>\u00a0(\u2018alert number 864\u2019)<\/span>\u00a0as being at 1pm<\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>They then record\u00a0<\/span>the fact that Beales was hit \u20181 HE (High Explosive) and fire\u2019<\/span>\u00a0along with a list of all the other premises affected.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>It is a very matter-of-fact account with no commentary or\u00a0<\/span>description<\/span>\u00a0accompanying it.\u00a0 However, it does provide a<\/span>n excellent guide to anyone seeking to understand the fraught, and sometimes lethal business of life during wartime in Bournemouth<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A record taken in earlier this year as part of the Beales archive<\/span>\u00a0(D-BEL)<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>provides a different but related\u00a0<\/span>view that started with the appalling damage wrought by the German raid.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>It is a photographic record of the reconstruction of Beales<\/span>, presented to the architects (<\/span>Messrs.\u00a0<\/span>Jackson and Greenen)\u00a0<\/span>by the construction company which undertook the work (James\u00a0Drewitt\u00a0& Co)<\/span>.\u00a0 It\u00a0<\/span>shows, through a series of\u00a0<\/span>images<\/span>\u00a0taken between 1952 and 1955<\/span>, the store rising once again f<\/span>rom the bombed<\/span>–<\/span>out shell to the structure\u00a0<\/span>that was only recently vacated when the business went into receivership.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Apart from being a<\/span>n excellent record of how the building was reconstructed<\/span>, the images are perhaps a<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>symbol of p<\/span>ostwar\u00a0<\/span>Bournemouth\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>regeneration<\/span>\u00a0and growing confidence as\u00a0<\/span>the country more generally shook off the restraints of rationing<\/span>\u00a0(July 1954)<\/span>\u00a0and moved\u00a0<\/span>into an era of greater consumer choice.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Both archival items tell parts of a\u00a0<\/span>traumatic story for Bournemouth and are in many ways a microcosm of Britain\u2019s wartime and post-war experiences.\u00a0 As we move into an era where living memory of these events is almost unknown (the <\/span>passing in June 2020<\/span> of Dame Vera Lynn is a high profile example), we should carefully preserve th<\/span>is material and other records like them as critical parts of our shared<\/span>\u00a0experience and<\/span>\u00a0heritage<\/span>\u00a0without which we will struggle to understand how the present\u00a0<\/span>shape of our towns and cities\u00a0<\/span>came into being<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bournemouth suffered a devastating aerial assault when\u00a023\u00a0May 1943, a German \u2018Tip and Run\u2019 raid attacked the town.\u00a0 The incident is\u00a0well recorded\u00a0as the cost in human lives and physical destruction was\u00a0severe\u00a0with\u00a0a reputed 130 deaths and\u00a0the\u00a0levelling of over 50 buildings.\u00a0 Amongst the premises badly affected were two large hotels, the\u00a0Metropole and Central, as well as\u00a0Beales Department Store\u00a0where… Read more Beales, bombs and evidence within the archives<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1892,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[82,137,197,21,109],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1892"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1771"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1779,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771\/revisions\/1779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}