Lest we forget

Mill Road was the major maternity hospital for Liverpool. Although not linked to the history of the cadets it is right that we reflect on the tragedy of World War Two.

On 3rd May 1941 the Mill Road Maternity Hospital itself fell victim to the German bombing with a direct hit on the maternity unit killing many mothers and their new babies. Several Ambulance drivers who had just finished their shift at Belmont Grove and had taken shelter at Mill Road were killed alongside several medics and nurses. In all approximately 80 people died in the tragedy. The target the Luftwaffe were after was that of Everton Reservoir which was near the Infirmary.

Roll Call of Ambulance Drivers who died at Mill Road on 3rd May 1941.

Thomas Ernest Atherton, ambulance driver 54

Frederick Bartlett, ambulance driver 44

Cecil Coventry, ambulance driver, 38

James Cullen, ambulance driver, 65

Percy Darby, ambulance driver, 61

Eugene Louis Fawcett, ambulance driver, 58

Samuel Fisher, ambulance driver, 32

Daniel Henderson, ambulance driver, 42

Walter Johnson, ambulance driver, 41

William Martland, ambulance driver, 29

John Newell, ambulance driver, 46

John Rossiter, ambulance driver, 50

Henry Frederick Sutton, ambulance driver, 24

Charles John Tuft, ambulance driver, 51

The tragic death of Henry Frederick Sutton greatly inspired his younger brother Dougie Sutton to join the Ambulance Service. This he did on the 6th of May 1951, and he served a long and loyal career lasting over 40 years.

When Eric Atherton joined the Ambulance Service in 1976; his father then told him that his Grandfather Thomas Ernest Atherton was also an Ambulance Driver who had tragically been killed in the bombing of Mill Road Infirmary.

The Mill Road Maternity Hospital after the devestating air raid.