Tragic Traffic Accident at “Kemp’s Corner” 27th September 1958 .... a story from Tony Goulding

Kemp's Corner, 1960

This photograph (A.E.Landers m18413 -1960) from the Manchester Archives Local Images Collection carries a very intriguing caption.

It describes a new shop front for the Chemists – rebuilt after a serious road accident in which 5 people died.
   
As this was such a significant incident which occurred at the very heart of Chorlton-cum-Hardy I have long wanted to tell the story of this tragedy.

Kemp's Chemist from shop pre-accident, 1958

Apart from knowing the approximate date, however, I could find out little else; even following enquiries made of some older Chorltonians amongst my friends.

Then, completely unexpectedly, while researching another story I ascertained the exact date when happening on a brief report of the accident in “The People” of Sunday 28th September 1958.

Armed with this vital piece of information I took a trip to Manchester Archives at Central Library to peruse the relevant microfilmed copies of The Manchester Evening News.
     
The paper carried a full account of the accident and included these two photographs.

One showing crash site on the night and the other the scene at the tragic corner the following morning showing the boarded-up front window of “Kemp’s the Chemist”.
 
Just after midnight in the early hours of 27th a heavy (10 ton) lorry travelling along Barlow Moor Road towards Didsbury was in collision with a saloon car travelling towards Stretford along Wilbraham Road.

All five occupants of the car were fatally injured two dying at the scene the remaining three later in hospital The driver of the lorry, Mr. William .Chapman aged 47,  of Stockton-on- Tees, had a lucky escape jumping clear before his vehicle ploughed into the Chemist’s shop front.
   
The five men who died were three brothers Bernard aged 24, Anthony, 22 and Edmund, 21, Robb and two friends 36-year-old William Hywell Roberts (the car driver) and Norman J. Mayo.

It was thought that they were on their way home after a night out playing darts (for which they were well known). The two youngest Robb brothers lived with their widowed mother Mary at 114, Norwood Road, Stretford. Norman Mayo was the only son of Albert Edward, a turbine engineer and his late wife, Margaret lived close by at 68, Davyhulme Road East with his father and four sisters.
   
The eldest Robb brother, Bernard was living at 629, Wilbraham Road, and only very newly married to Kathleen (née O’Neill), a nurse. His younger brother had just recently completed his National Service and returned home from Cyprus.

The eldest casualty thirty-six years old Mr William Hywell Roberts, who resided at 60, Whitelow Road left a widow, Alice and a young son, Adrian.

Initially the lorry driver was blamed for the accident and he was charged with causing death by dangerous driving. However local people had been voicing their concern for some time regarding the inadequacy of the traffic lights at this increasingly busy junction. They were demanding that the obsolete system in situ using road pads be replaced by a time-controlled set. Whatever the reason when the case came before Manchester’s Crown Court on the following 20th March, Mr. Chapman was acquitted.

 Finally, the hero of the night, according to The Manchester Evening News was John Quinlan, the landlord of the “Royal Oak” public house on the opposite diagonal of the junction. On hearing the crash as he was preparing for bed he dashed out to the scene and extricated one of the car’s occupants from the wreckage.

Tony Goulding © 2019

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Pictures, Kemp’s Corner, A.E.Landers m18413 -1960, Kemp’s Chemist shop front pre-accident 1958
(A. E.Landers m 18412) courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass remaining images from the collection of Tony Gouldng