Mass grave in Faversham Cemetery (geograph 4958034)

Mass grave of some of the men killed in the explosion at the gunpowder works in Uplees in 1916 - geograph

The memorial to the victims of the 1916 Faversham Munitions Explosion is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in Love Lane cemetery, in

Faversham, Kent Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British t ...

. Unveiled in 1917, it incorporates a granite

Celtic cross The Celtic cross is a form of Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring that emerged in Ireland, France and Great Britain in the Early Middle Ages. A type of ringed cross, it became widespread through its use in the stone high crosses er ...

and the granite structures surrounding a

mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact ...

for 73 people killed by the

Faversham explosion Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British t ...

on 2 April 1916, and a nearby freestanding stone which records the names of another 35 who were buried elsewhere. The memorial became a Grade II

in 1989, and was upgraded to Grade II* in March 2016 just before the centenary of the explosion.

Background

The first

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...

factory in England was established at Faversham in the 16th century. The

Faversham explosives industry Faversham, in Kent, England, has claims to be the cradle of the UK's explosives industry: it was also to become one of its main centres. The first gunpowder plant in the UK was established in the 16th century, possibly at the instigation of the ab ...

remained important at the time of the First World War, when the

Explosives Loading Company The Davington Light Railway was a narrow gauge railway built to serve the armaments factories near Davington, in Kent, England. It ran between Davington and Uplees. History Munitions have been produced at Faversham since 1561. Three gunpowd ...

established factory number 7 on the

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...

Uplees Uplees is a remote hamlet north of Faversham, Kent in southeast England. It was a key part of the Faversham explosives industry during World War I, with the Cotton Powder Company importing raw materials via the deepwater channel of the Swale, and ...

nearby, to make

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

charges for shells and mines. Despite many safety measures to prevent sparks, a fire broke out on Sunday 2 April 1916 at Building 833, a wooden shed which contained 15 tons of TNT and 150 tons of

ammonium nitrate Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is a white crystalline salt consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, although it does not form hydrates. It is ...

. The cause of the fire remains unclear: an initial report delivered on 17 April, just two weeks later, attributed it to sparks from a fault at a nearby boiler house setting light to empty linen sacks used to transport explosives which had been piled up against the shed. This attribution was later upheld in the official report by a committee headed by the

Minister of Munitions The Minister of Munitions was a British government position created during the First World War to oversee and co-ordinate the production and distribution of munitions for the war effort. The position was created in response to the Shell Crisis of ...

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...

. Workers and firemen desperately fought to put out the fire, and to remove the explosives from the vicinity, but to little avail: there were three large explosions at about 2:20pm, excavating a large crater some across and deep. A worse disaster was averted: several thousand tons of TNT stored elsewhere on the site did not explode. At least 108 men and boys were killed - none of the plant's female workers were present at the weekend - the youngest aged 17 and 18 and the oldest in their 60s. The dead included all of the factory's fire brigade, 20 workers from the neighbouring Cotton Powder Company who came to assist, and six soldiers from the 4th Battalion,

The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), formerly the 3rd Regiment of Foot, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army traditionally raised in the English county of Kent and garrisoned at Canterbury. It had a history dating back to 1572 and ...

, that formed the site's military guard. Many of the remains could not be identified, and another seven people were recorded missing. Almost 100 others were injured. The detonation broke windows in

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

, away across the

Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...

, and it was heard over away, with reports from Norwich and France. The disaster remained relatively unknown due to wartime press censorship. Many bodies were buried together at Love Lane cemetery in Faversham on Thursday 6 April 1917, at a service conducted by the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

Randall Davidson Randall Thomas Davidson, 1st Baron Davidson of Lambeth, (7 April 1848 – 25 May 1930) was an Anglican priest who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1903 to 1928. He was the longest-serving holder of the office since the English Reformation, Re ...

, with further burials on 7 and 8 April. In all, 73 were interred in the mass grave, but only 34 could be identified, with the others recorded as "male person unknown". The families of another 35 victims elected to bury their bodies elsewhere. The factory was quickly rebuilt and returned to production.

Memorial

The mass grave is a long rectangular block about orientated north–south, surrounded by a low granite kerb punctuated by low capped piers, with urns on pillars to either side of steps at each end. In the centre of the block is a free-standing granite

standing on three steps, about high, with an inscription "SACRED TO THE / MEMORY OF THE MEN / WHO DIED IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR / COUNTRY 2ND. APRIL 1916. // ‘FATHER IN THY GRACIOUS KEEPING / LEAVE NOW THY SERVANTS SLEEPING.’ ". The quotation is taken from the 1870 hymn " Now the labourer's task is o'er" by

John Ellerton The Rev. John Ellerton (16 December 1826 – 15 June 1893) was a hymnodist and hymnologist. Life He was born in Clerkenwell, Middlesex, England, to George Ellerton, the head of an evangelical family. He was educated at King William's College on ...

. The names of the buried are listed in lead lettering along the edge of the kerb wall. A separate stone nearby lists the names of 35 victims who were buried elsewhere. The memorial was paid for by the Explosives Loading Company, which also undertook to maintain it. It was unveiled and dedicated the

on 27 September 1917. It became a Grade II listed building in 1989, and was upgraded to Grade II* in March 2016.

References

{{Reflist
Memorials to the victims of the 1916 Faversham Munitions Explosion
National Heritage List for England, Historic England
Faversham Gunpowder Works Explosion
War Memorials Register, Imperial War Museums

Dover War Memorial Project

Roll of Honour, Kent
Faversham Gunpowder Works Explosion WW1
War Memorials Online Monuments and memorials in Kent Grade II* listed buildings in Kent Munitions Explosion Memorial

Background

Memorial

See also

References