On This Day in Wembury – 15 October 1928
The Western Morning News reported on the Charfield rail disaster, one of Britain’s worst railway accidents, in which 27 lives were lost. Among the passengers was Mr Walter Norfolk of Knighton Farm, Wembury.
Norfolk described how he was dozing when a terrible crash hurled him across his carriage, leaving him concussed and with bruised legs. He recalled struggling to open the shattered door and crawling on hands and knees up the embankment, unable to walk because of his injuries. From there he saw his carriage engulfed in flames, knowing that some who had been seated just yards away could not have escaped.
Reflection
Wembury readers of the time would have recognised Norfolk as a local farm worker, suddenly caught up in a national calamity. His account reminds us how survival in such disasters often hinged on small details — his seat position, his ability to crawl free — and how the impact of events far away from home could leave their mark on village life.