Burnden tragedy dead remembered

An afternoon when eight men from Leigh, Atherton and Tyldesley died in what was then the worst disaster in the history of football.

The sixth round of the F.A. Cup between Bolton and Stoket ended with 33 soccer fans dead and more than 300 injured.

A private service for relatives will be held at Burnden Park this Saturday.

On Sunday, a memorial service will be held in Bolton Parish Church, starting 2pm.

Before the match on March 9, 1946, a 50,000 gate was predicted. The official attendance topped 65,000 but unofficially was thought to have been about 85,000.

On the day 28,137 supporters were officially allowed onto the Embankment. Mr R. Moelwyn Hughes, KC, who ran the inquiry, said in his report that the numbers officially allowed was 2,000 too many for safety, and had a lower figure been adhered to, then "I do not think the disaster would have happened".

He criticised the shape of the Embankment enclosure, which created a "bottleneck", but concluded that unauthorised entry "was a factor, which contributed to the disaster, but not a major one".

As the teams came onto the field with the inevitable excitement, the weight of the crowd came down the terraces. Those at the front were forced against barriers which collapsed. Spectators fell and others landed on top of them, three and four deep, and many others were trodden underfoot by their helpless neighbours.

Hundreds of spectators were brought out onto the track, but no-one was aware of the seriousness of the situation. The match had kicked off before it was realised that people were dead. At a break in the game, at 3.12, the referee was told. He stopped play and took the players off the field.

The dead and injured were rapidly taken away, and at 3.20, the Chief Constable urged the resumption of play. The referee agreed, because hardly any of the spectators apart from those in the corner of the ground where the tragedy had taken place were aware of what had happened, and to abandon the match might have led to disorder.

Indeed, many of the spectators at the match went home unaware of the catastrophe, until the final edition of the Bolton Evening News revealed the dreadful details.

The local fans who died were:

Sidney Potter, aged 36, of Charles Street, Tyldesley;

William Evans, aged 33, of Glebe Street, Leigh;

John Lucas, aged 35, of Arthur Street, Leigh;

Robert Bentham, aged 33, of Bolton Old Road, Atherton;

Wilfred Allison, aged 19, of Selborne Street, Leigh;

James Battersby, aged 33, of Worthing Grove, Atherton;

Fred Battersby, aged 31, of Argyle Street, Atherton;

Henry Bimson, aged 59, of Leigh Road, Leigh.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.