Luton History: The day a German rocket fell on Luton - flattening the Post Office

On the morning of Monday 6 November 1944, the sub-postmistress at Luton Post Office, Mary Campbell, received a call that her daughter had been taken ill at school and needed collecting.

Mary was reluctant to leave her post - Post Offices were a protected part of the war effort. Thank goodness she did, because moments later a German V2 rocket fell on Biscot Road, close enough to completely flatten the Post Office. Were she to have stayed, Mary Campbell would undoubtedly have been killed.

So begins The Little Maid, one of the many true stories about Luton to be found in the new app, Museum of Stories: Bury Park, in a version told by Mary’s granddaughter.

The V2 rocket attack of November 1944 is still keenly felt among an older, though sadly dwindling, generation of Lutonians. Biscot Road and the surrounding area was devastated. Over 1,500 houses were damaged or destroyed, with 196 injured and 19 killed. Possibly more followed due to the impact of the explosion; many suffered lifelong injuries, mentally and physically.

The list of the victims included housewives carrying on their daily routines, the men turning up for work at Kents or Commer Cars that morning, and tragically a young school boy aged 13, who unfortunately wasn't at school that day.

Two ladies that died on that day drew my attention: Mrs Rachael Baynham and Mrs Amy Rees at 83 Biscot Road. They both lived in the same house, but there was limited information apart from their home address and that they were both married or had been married.

I had to find out more, and as the story unfolds I find they are mother and daughter both from Glamorganshire in Wales, and both are widowed.

Rachael Ann Thompson married Amy’s father in 1900, a Thomas Dentus, however in 1903 Thomas died due to an accident at the Hafod Colliery. Rachael remarries a Thomas Baynham, but she is once again widowed in 1936.

Amy Dentus, her daughter, was born in 1901. She married William Rees in 1922, but by 1925 she is also widowed due to another colliery accident in Wales.

In 1939 Mrs Rachael Ann Baynham moved to Fitzroy Avenue in Luton and was living next door to the brother of her deceased husband William Baynham, and his wife Mary. Amy Rees, Rachael’s widowed daughter, is working at the Royal Arsenal Willesden, in London.

Sometime after 1939, both families moved to Biscot Road. William and Mary Baynham move into number 10 and Mrs Rachael Baynham and her daughter Mrs Amy Rees, both still widows, move to number 83 Biscot Road.

It is here that they meet their end together that fateful morning in November 1944.

Number 83 was completely destroyed by the V2 rocket.

To hear more stories about Luton’s past download the free Museum of Stories app at www.museumofstories.co.uk