Fatal crash in 1920

There was a fatal charabanc crash at Oxenhope on Saturday 30th October 1920. The vehicle had been travelling from Hebden Bridge to a knur-and-spell match in Laneshaw Bridge. Its brakes failed on the descent towards Oxenhope and it crashed through a wall at about 35 to 40 miles per hour. Tragically five occupants of the vehicle were killed.

A similar photograph to this accompanied a rather vivid report of the crash in the Keighley News of 6th November 1920: “Several char-a-bancs left the Hebden Bridge district about noon, carrying parties of sportsmen interested in a knur-and-spell match between a Hebden Bridge man and a Keighley man, which was to take place at Laneshaw Bridge, near Colne. One vehicle, a big 32-seater char-a-bancs, owned by Messrs. Greenoff and Shaw, of Rochdale, appears to have been the last to leave. It picked up passengers mostly from Pecket Well and Wadsworth district, and all went well during the climb up to Cockhill Moor, which lies between Hebden Bridge and Keighley.

“Everything appears to have gone well until the somewhat steep decline from the moors into the village of Oxenhope. For perhaps a mile and a-half the road from the moors drops steadily, and the approach to the village itself is fraught with many dangerous turns and twists. Near a well-known public-house, popularly known as ‘Dyke Nook’, something seemed to be wrong with the motor char-a-bancs, and, instead of answering to the movements of the brake levers, the heavy vehicle, weighing almost four tons, gradually got out of hand, and dashed along the highway at an ever-increasing speed.

“The driver stuck to his post, and fortunately was able to keep to the centre of the road. The race continued for almost a mile: the way was clear of traffic. Near Oxenhope Church, however, the sharp, left-hand bend was encountered, and because of its tremendous speed and weight it was impossible the char-a-bancs could take the corner. Scarcely any turn appears to have been made, however, and the vehicle dashed straight for the wall on the right-hand side of the road and through into the field.”

John Graham, recovering afterwards at Victoria Hospital for fractured ribs and a badly damaged hand, told the Keighley News that the vehicle must have been traveling at over 30 miles an hour, with the scenery whizzing by like when travelling by express train.

John Murgatroyd of Pecket Well, the passenger who had actually organised the trip, described the moments leading up to the crash to the Keighley News: “After going down the far slope for a quarter of a mile the driver tried to check the growing speed of the char-a-bancs. He applied both the foot and hand brakes to the full without checking the vehicle. It was an awful experience, for the motor was gaining speed at every yard. The driver held on to his steering wheel, and marvellously got round a couple of sharp bends. All the passengers must have realised that they were being carried along at a break-neck speed, but they remained calm, and there was no sign of panic. As we bowled on to the last long straight stretch, the char-a-bancs must have been going at forty miles an hour, and at the end was the hair-pin bend. No man breathing could have got a motor round at the speed at which we were travelling. As we approached the end I shut my eyes and awaited the end. It was an awful shock. Practically all were hurled out of the car, and I dropped in a field about twenty yards away.”

Keighley News: “The driver was a man named Tom Hay, of Rochdale, and he escaped with a cut hand and a severe shaking. Many of the passengers suffered from shock. One passenger, more daring than the rest, when he saw an accident was unavoidable, jumped from the rapidly-moving vehicle into the road. He rolled head over heels time and time again, and another passenger who was going to jump thought the man was killed, and decided not to leap, and crouched down behind a seat. He was practically unhurt, and the man who jumped received only slight injuries to the arm.

“All the passengers and debris from the vehicle, the wall, and from a hen-house which was in the field immediately behind the wall, were thrown into an indescribable heap. Thrown on to a heap of stones and against the trees the passengers sustained shocking injuries. Two passengers were picked up dead, and others were unconscious. The noise of the collision and the screams of the injured brought the villagers to the scene, and help was quickly rendered. Dr. McCracken, of Haworth, was in the village at the time and he was soon on the spot. Policemen, members of the St. John Ambulance Brigade, and nurses were on the scene quickly, and Dr. Maggs and Dr. Wilson, of Haworth, were summoned by telephone. A motor-ambulance from the Keighley Fire Station was called, and in this, on on a motor-lorry owned by Messrs. Merrall, spinners, Haworth, a number of the serious cases were taken to the Keighley Victoria Hospital, where medical men were awaiting the arrival of the patients.

“The great force with which the motor char-a-bancs hit the wall can be judged by the appearance of the vehicle after the accident. The radiator shows the marks where the stones hit it, and one side is broken away. The front axle is broken and the steering column fractured, but it was along the right side of the body that most damage was done. The whole of the side is broken completely away, the woodwork being in splinters, and all the aluminium panelling broken and twisted in all directions. The ends of the seats are directly in view, and instead of remaining parallel they are twisted in all directions.”

Amongst those who died were William Devenport Kershaw (35), an ex-soldier living at Keighley Road, Pecket Well, and his wife Alice (27 or 37 – the Keighley News quotes both ages). William died in Victoria Hospital, while Alice was killed at the scene. The other person who died at the scene was John Drake Turner (46) of Waterloo Bank, Wadsworth. William Ogden (56) of Ivy Cottage, Pecket Well, died on arrival at the hospital. Percy Brown Roe (30), Hebden View, Wadsworth, who had been a Sergeant throughout the First World War, died at the hospital during the evening. Four of the victims were buried in the cemetery at Wainsgate, near Hebden Bridge, on the following Thursday, following a service led by Mr J. T. Greenwood at the Baptist Chapel. William Ogden had been buried in the cemetery adjoining the Baptist Church the day before. Both services were attended by hundreds of locals, including people injured in the crash, and schools, pubs and businesses were shut in the victims’ honour.

The knurr and spell match at Laneshaw Bridge was delayed by an hour, but eventually took place in ignorance of what had occurred. On Thursday 4th November 1920, Keighley’s MP, Robert Clough, asked in the House of Commons whether an inspector from the Department of Transport would attend the scene of the accident and attend any follow-up inquiry. He was assured by Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, Arthur Neal, that an inspector was already engaged. Reportedly thousands of visitors went to inspect the scene of the accident over the few days following its occurrence.

According to local historian Ian Dewhirst in his book ‘Down Memory Lane’ (Keighley News, 1993), at the inquest that followed, some expert witnesses criticised the driver for having come down the hill in top gear, but the owner of the charabanc defended his driver by saying “if he had come down in second gear the passengers would have thought that he was not a capable driver and that he was nervous”. Certainly accounts captured by the Keighley News in the days immediately following the accident, many survivors praised the driver’s attempts to control the situation.

The photograph of the crash was donated to the History Society by David Holmes. The photograph of Victoria Hospital is a detail from a Hall & Siggers postcard from the personal collection of Tim Neal. Researched and collated by Tim Neal.