On This Day in Wembury – 23 December 1943
Electrocuted at Wembury: Tragic Target Mishap
The Western Morning News reported on the inquest into the death of Bertie Albert Ernest Knight, aged 20, of Manor Cottage, Down Thomas. Knight, a keen member of the Home Guard, was found in a Wembury field clasping the rope of an R.A.F. target cable, fatally electrocuted after it came into contact with 6,300-volt power lines between Staddiscombe and Wembury. The incident also killed two bullocks in the same field. Witnesses described scorched earth where the wire touched the ground, and the coroner confirmed that no blame could be attached to either the aircrew or the local electricity authority.
This sad accident captures the dangers that war work and even local defence enthusiasm could pose on the home front. Knight’s death links the quiet fields of Wembury with the unseen risks of aerial training over South Devon. Alongside bombs and blackouts, wartime life could be cut short by an accident far from the front line — a reminder of how deeply the Second World War reached into rural communities.
