Albion Disaster Memorial

The memorial to the victims of the 1898 Albion Disaster.

Location: East London Cemetary

Description: This touching memorial to a long forgotten horrific Thames disaster is one of the few distinct on Google Maps.

HMS Albion was a British battleship weighing over 14000 tonnes, with 4 12 inch guns and was built by the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co. Ltd near Bow Creek by the Thames.

During the launch into the creek, which was quite narrow so they launched ships there sideways, the wake from the launch caused a temporary viewing platform on the creek (for large crowds of 30,000+ were drawn for the launch of such large ships) to capsize. On that day, the 21st June 1898, 34 people were killed.

Mrs Eliza Tarbot was the oldest victim at 64 and she was first to be buried here, as week later. Then Mrs Isabel White, 30, and her two children, Lottie, five, and Queenie, two, both of whom were found dead still clinging to her dress.

As for the Albion, she served in the Middle East during World War I before being sold for scrap in December 1918.

Here there are five graves, as follows:

GRAVE 1
Matilda Young 23
Mary Wilson 63
Ann Dives 39
Jane Langford 21
Sarah Elizabeth Simmons 12

GRAVE 2
John Petty 21
Ada Jane King 23
Rose Lucetta Elliott 17
Moses Jethro James 14
George Claydon 14

GRAVE 3
Isabella White 33
Charlotte Esther White 5
Queenie Isabella White 1
Samuel Southgate 23
Leah Dearl 23
Alfred Joseph Walter Sims 6
Ernest Hopkins 12
Kitty Hopkins 10

GRAVE 4
William Riley 11
Beatrice Bishop 24
Sarah Ann Whitehouse 21
Mary Ann Eve 48
Eliza Eleanor Tarbox 64

GRAVE 5
Margaret Jane McGoldrick 38
Mary Redfern 13
Alice Howell 33
Annie Short 33
Frank George Southgate 3 months