Before I turn away from Thomas Burgess TINGAY's death, I will post the details of his death certificate.
This was in the Registration District of Tendring, Sub District of Thorpe in the County of Essex. The date 23rd August 1918 on the Pier at Walton on the Naze.
Thomas Burgess Tingay, age 40 of 71 Garrett Lane, Wandsworth, A Lance Corporal in the 646th London Field Company, Royal Engineers (Electrical Engine Driver).
Cause of death: The exploding of an explosive storehouse. The death was registered by B Briant, Lt. R E T, in charge of the body. 646th London Field Company, Frinton on Sea. The death was registered on the 28th August 1919.
The following is taken from the Frinton Gazette of the day:
Explosion on a Pier. Three soldiers killed.
"About half-past 2 o’clock on a Friday afternoon, Aug. 23, a heavy explosion involving the death of three soldiers, occurred at an East Coast seaside resort.
The windows of the Pier Hotel, with those of nearly all the houses on the sea front, were destroyed. The explosion was at first attributed to a drifting mine, but it was found that a shed on the pier, used to store explosives, had blown up, and that a sergeant and two sappers of the Royal Engineers had lost their lives.
One of the soldiers had been talking just before to a lad fishing from the pier, and just after the sapper re-entered the shed, the explosion occurred. Several visitors were struck by flying pieces of wood from the shed, but none was seriously hurt. Except for the disappearance of the shed, the pier is intact. Those who received slight injuries included Mr. H.H. Weatherall, of Colchester, who was struck by a flying fragment from the debris. A lad who was standing close to the shed at the time was uninjured. Mr. R.C. Evans, son of Mr. T. A. Evans of North Hill, Colchester, who was fishing a little distance away also escaped injury, though standing close to Mr. Weatherall, who was slightly hurt on the leg. Mr. Brown, formerly chief clerk at the Colchester Post Office, and now retired, was also on the pier, but came to no harm.
Prompt assistance was rendered by the police and other helpers and the soldiers who survived the explosion were conveyed to the hospital.
A distressing incident in connection with the disaster was the arrival from Manchester of the wife and family of one of the soldiers killed, an hour or two after the explosion.
The damage to windows will prove difficult of repair in these times. The explosion, as is so often the case, was strangely freakish in its glass-breaking results. On the Marine Parade comparatively few houses suffered, but at a terrace not far distant many large windows have been blown in, and another terrace looks almost as if it had been bombarded, many of the window frames having been blown in bodily. Some quaint old red-brick houses that stand in a semi-circle above and behind a well-known hotel have very few windows intact, but one house entirely escaped damage. At the hotel all the ground floor windows are intact, but the large upper windows were shattered. On a cliff southwards one large window in a house was blown in, but all the adjoining and less lofty residences escaped damage. The pier, which is now closed to visitors, has sustained very slight structural damage, except that the shed in which the explosion occurred has vanished.
A lady who was bathing on the sea front some time after the explosion had a gruesome experience; she found in the water a soldier’s boot with the foot in it.
At the parish church on Sunday evening the preacher made sympathetic reference to the disaster, and referred to the providential escape of the two visitors and special prayers were offered for the relatives of the unfortunate men. At another place of worship a collection was taken on behalf of the wives and families of the deceased men and the sum of five guineas obtained.
The funeral of Lance-Corpl. T.B. Tingay took place on Thursday morning with full military honours, the coffin being born to the grave by a military bearer party and the service being concluded with the three volleys and the sounding of the “Last Post” by the buglers of the infantry unit stationed in the neighbourhood. There were many beautiful floral tributes, among them being three wreaths from the N.C.O.s and men of the R.E. Coy to which deceased belonged, and three tributes from the officers of the Company.
During the morning the remains of Sergt. Butler (who belongs to London) and Sapper Leah (who belongs to Manchester) were conveyed to the station for internment in their respective towns, the military following each to the railway station. A subscription list has been opened for the widows and families of the deceased men in a neighbouring town, and this is appealing strongly to the generous support of the townspeople."
The information was very kindly provided for me by someone living in Walton on the Naze.
Details of Thomas Burgess TINGAY can be found on the Commonwealth War Graves site, WW1 deaths.
