About me

Hello Paul. I wonder how far back your records go. I am now 74 years old. Both of my parents grew up in Durban and they told me about a terrible accident that happened in Durban in 1910. There was an exhibition held in Albert Park, I think to celebrate the founding of the Union of South Africa. The Durban Fire Brigade built a little house of straw with a balcony. They put their children onto the balcony and set fire to the house. The Fire Brigade was to gallop in and put the fire out. But the flames took hold and the children were burnt to death. My father was nine years old at the time and he remembered the children screaming and running round the balcony. My grandmother was asked if my father could take part as one of the children but she refused. My mother, who was three years younger than my father, told me that a little friend of hers, named Kathleen Plumber (spelling?) was burnt to death in that blaze. Her father was a fireman. Do you have any records of this? I’d be very interested.