Accounts of people who lived through Hartlepool Bombardment revealed for the first time

The tales of local schoolchildren, a battery commander and a German admiral are all included in the book by town author Ian Lightfoot.

It all started with a postcard from the period before turning into a book of 210 pages called Voices From A Bombardment

Ian, who collects postcards, noticed the messages on the back detailed the suffering of people and the consequences from the shelling by the German Navy on December 16, 1914.

In one, the sender had described the damage the shelling had done to their home.

"I noticed on some of them there was a statement on the back saying how they were suffering and what had happened to them,” said Ian.

"These were sent to relatives or friends in January or late December of 1914 into 1915. It occurred to me that this hadn’t been heard and they were compelling reading.”

It kicked off years of research, with Ian, 66, visiting other postcard collectors and dealers and exploring their collections.

Over five years he obtained more than 40 postcards as well as a collection of 38 tales from people who had lived through the Bombardment.

Ian said he felt "educated” and “shocked” reading some of the accounts.

One of the stories comes from a local schoolgirl who was travelling from Wellfield to Hartlepool by train on the day of the Bombardment.

She witnessed the attack and recounted shells firing over the train.

Another account shows the confusion on the day as a German admiral thought the Heugh Battery had been knocked out – which was not the case.

Ian’s family members were also caught in the Bombardment – with his maternal grandmother Mary only 11 at the time.

As the shells started falling down, Mary, who lived in Henry Street, grabbed her three-year-old brother Bill and ran across the road to a baptist church.

While they were hiding in the cellar, a shell crashed though the chapel, destroying everything inside, before going through a wall and exploding on the street.

They survived, but Bill had a stutter for the rest of his life as a result of the event.

It was in stark contrast to the concerns people had just a year before.

Ian, who is from the Headland but now lives in Wynyard said: "From the council minutes of 1913 you’ve got the perky Headlanders complaining bitterly about firing practice on the Headland, because it’s moving the ornaments and stressing their pets. That’s a year before the event.”

A picture of Hartlepool taken by a German spy on the day of the Bombardment is also featured in the book.

Voices From A Bombardment will be available to purchase from St Hilda’s Church and Hartlepool Art Gallery.

A launch event open to the public will also take place at St Hilda’s Church on Thursday, July 6, from 9am until 4pm.

Retired art and design lecturer Ian added: “I’m not a businessman and I’m not out to make money from it, I just want the messages to get out there.”