Gillingham Bus Disaster - Dock Road, Chatham, Kent, UK.
Posted by: 
MeerRescue
N 51° 23.756 E 000° 31.934
31U E 328327 N 5696745
A memorial plaque to the 24 Royal Marine Volunteer Cadet Corp boys killed in 1951 in Dock Road, Chatham, Kent, UK.
Waymark Code: WMECR3
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 05/08/2012
Views: 4
The Gillingham Bus Disaster occurred
in Dock Road outside HM Dockyard, Chatham, Kent, at 17:57 on the evening of
December 4th 1951. A double decker bus of the Chatham & District Traction
Company ploughed into a marching company of 52 young Royal Marine Volunteer
Cadet Corp aged between 10 and 13 years of age. As a result of the collision, 17
boys died immediately, another 7 died in hospital, all but one on the same
night. Another 18 were injured in what was then, the highest loss of life in any
road accident in Britain. At the time, it was a tragedy that stunned the
post-war people across Britain, not least the Naval towns that nowadays
constitute Medway Towns, who mourned in their tens of thousands. Many messages
of sympathy from all over the world were received.
This plaque is sited at the collision location in Dock Road, on the former HM
Dockyard boundary wall. It reads;
IN
EVERLASTING MEMORY / OF / 24 ROYAL MARINE VOLUNTEER CADETS /
AGED 9 - 13 YEARS / WHO TRAGICALLY LOST THEIR LIVES / IN DOCK ROAD ON / THE 4th
DAY OF DECEMBER 1951
EVER REMEMBERED BY / FAMILY, FRIENDS AND THE / CHATHAM MARINE'S CADET UNIT
UNVEILED BY HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE / PRINCE PHILLIP DUKE OF EDINBURGH, K.G, K.T.
THIS DAY 2nd DECEMBER 2001