16th April 1935
A crane falls into St Helier Harbour
A 25-year-old crane operator drowned when his crane fell from Victoria Pier into St Helier harbour. Ambrose Glendawar was trapped in the wreckage and his body could not be recovered for five days.
The crane had been built to lift 45-ton loads but toppled when loaded with just over 37 tons of girders and stone. Engineers had been conducting tests on the crane to see how much it could carry when the accident occured. An inquest ruled that Glendawar had died by drowning and would have still been alive when the crane was submerged.
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Other events that occured in April
Jersey tries to abolish church pews sale
- Your seat in church once said a great deal about your social standing, so many wanted to bequeath their pews to offspring when they died.
- Read more…
Corbière lighthouse is lit for the first time
- Corbiere’s 19m-tall lighthouse sits on a tidal island, which lifts the light a further 17m above the high tide mark. It was first lit in 1874.
- Read more…
Race car crash kills driver and spectators
- A leading light in the world of motor racing was killed when he skidded and crashed his Bugatti into a house at Jersey's Marquand’s Corner.
- Read more…
An attempted elopement fails
- In the 1930s, it simply wasn’t done to get married without first obtaining your father’s permission. Ada Maud West learned that the hard way.
- Read more…
