Reader’s letter from PJ Bryant
I grew up in Essex, and attended Davenant Foundation Grammar School in the 70’s. It’d only just moved from Whitechapel and quite a few of the teachers came with it. One was a Maths teacher, Mr F (I won’t name him, as although he’s likely long dead, there may be family who read this).
Mr F was a young man serving during the Second World War, and at the time of the disaster was stationed in Victoria Park. On that night he was on duty in the park, and they conducted a live firing exercise, which in other reports at Historic UK was described as “secret testing of anti-aircraft guns in nearby Victoria Park”.
Mr F came to learn of the disaster and described to me (in the mid 70’s) his eternal sadness and regret that he had some small part in the disaster. He was a very quiet and gentle soul, a great maths teacher, but often bullied by the boys. I do wonder if this is in part due to the trauma of knowing he was unwittingly and unintentionally involved in the deaths of 173 innocent people.