Service and Plaque for the Booth’s Fire Disaster

In 1941 there was a funeral for 49 individuals killed in the Booth’s Fire Disaster. A raging blaze tore through a Huddersfield factory resulting in so many deaths. The fire took place at the height of World War Two and among almost daily loss of life, this tragedy passed quickly and was seemingly forgotten by the general population.

Local historian Richard Heath has been fascinated and moved to re-tell the story of the Booth’s Fire Disaster. Richard campaigned and brought to light through articles and conversations events of that terrible night.e was a funeral for 49 individuals killed in the Booth’s Fire Disaster. A raging blaze tore through a Huddersfield factory resulting in so many deaths. The fire took place at the height of World War Two and among almost daily loss of life, this tragedy passed quickly and was seemingly forgotten by the general population.

Saturday 3rd November at 12 noon much of the words and music from the original funeral will be revisited. There was in 1941 only a single service marking the passing of the entire disaster.  On Saturday the names of those who died will be read out and the Bishop of Wakefield will speak to the gathered congregation, the Bishop’s predecessor preached at the original funeral in 1941.

Straight after the service a plaque commemorating the disaster will be dedicated close to where the original factory stood.

At the back of St Peter’s Church there will be folders containing the names of the departed. It is hoped that by collecting contact details there will be a gathering of relatives later next spring to create an oral history of the story of the Booth’s Fire Disaster.

“This seems to be a way of creating and sustaining the memory of those who lost their lives in a single fire, on a single night in 1941”, said the Rev Canon Simon Moor; “the service and ceremony is open to anyone who has relatives who died in the disaster or has an interest in the subject.”